Taming the Lion
by CuteMooglez
Summary: UPDATE! Everything seems to be going wrong for Selphie when her 'no good, cheating shmuck' of a boyfriend is caught kissing on another. Wanting to get as far away from him as possible, she decides to return to Trabia only to be stopped. *Squalphie* R
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: We get so tired of writing these, so this one is going to last the duration of this fic.  We do not, nor will we ever, own Final Fantasy.  It belongs to Squaresoft.

**A/N: **BreeAnne and I wanted to do a spin off of things.  While we were writing Swapping Souls, we realized that most of the humor we were coming up with wouldn't fit in the story because it had nothing to do with the storyline.  So we figured, why not make a completely different fanfiction all together?  And make it a Squelphie!!  

The author Battle Angel Ren is Beta-Reading this for us.  Make sure you check out her stories! She's awesome!!!

The Taming of the Lion

            The clicking of the clock's second hand was slowly driving Selphie insane.  "What is wrong with him?" she exclaimed as she looked at that annoying clock for the millionth time.  It was now seven thirty, and Irvine had promised to eat dinner with her in the cafeteria at seven.  Where was he?  Surely to Hyne it wouldn't take him that long to get out of his Magic class?  Sighing, she started to absentmindedly drop her fingertips against the tabletop.  

"Selph, what are you doing?" came a familiar voice.  Looking up, Selphie recognized the person to be Quistis.  Her blond hair was disheveled and her orange top had some mud on it.  From the looks of it, she had been training.

"Hey Quisty!" she exclaimed, "Have you seen Irvine?" 

The instructor placed her hand against her chin in thought.  "Actually I did just a while ago, he was in the Training Center..." 

Selphie closed her eyes and shook her head.  "What's wrong?" Quistis asked.

"He probably forgot…" the normally perky teen said solemnly.  

"Why don't you go find him?  I'll help you look…" 

"Alright.  Thanks Quisty!"

"No problem.  Just let me grab a quick snack."  Quistis smiled warmly and stood in the line as Selphie busied herself with watching the door, just in case Irvine decided to show.  He didn't.

"C'mon Sefie," Quistis brought the younger SeeD out of her own little world.  In one hand she was holding a bagel and in the other some cream cheese to go on it.  "We better hurry if you want to catch him while he's still there.  If I know Irvine, and I do, he doesn't like to train long."

"Okay," she smiled and started out of the cafeteria, with Quistis following in a brisk walk.  

"So, what's the deal?  Isn't today your guys' six month anniversary?" the instructor asked through a mouth full of bagel.

"Yeah, so I can't really imagine why he would forget…"

"No kidding.  That's half of a year…"

"Hmm.  I don't know.  He's had an awful lot on his mind lately.  He just passed the SeeD exam last week, so Cid's had him busy with a bunch of missions."

"Yeah, but it's pretty sad that it's taken him this long to pass it…" Quistis giggled and tore off another piece of her bagel.

"He claimed that he wasn't trying hard enough.  But I know better," she winked.  "We all know that Irvy can't take orders to save his life."

"That's very true…" 

The two girls rounded a corner and found themselves standing in front of the Training Center.  "Look Sefie, I'm not in the mood to train anymore.  You wont mind if we just kind of slip through, not fighting anything unless it's a threat?"

"Don't worry Quisty.  I was hoping to do the same!"

It was silent as the two walked through the humid room.  "I hope he's alright," was all Selphie could manage to say.  There had to be a perfectly good reason that he wasn't at the cafeteria, right?  That's what she was hoping, but hopes can be misleading.

Leaves crunched under her boots as she edged her way through the facility, trying to keep out of the sight of the Grats.  Far off in the distance, she heard the roar of a beast and a battle cry.  It sounded as if a T-Rexaur was close by.

"Hurry Selph, I'm not in the mood to be something's dinner."  Quistis said, tugging on Selphie's arm.  

"I haven't seen Irvy yet, do you think that _he _was dinner?" the SeeD whispered, her eyes widening.

"I doubt it…" Quistis started looking around desperately.  "Let's go there, I don't think it can get us in there!" she pointed to the 'secret spot'.  Nodding, Selphie ran to the small room crowded with couples.  Peeking out of the door, she noticed that someone was already fighting the monster, and from the looks of it, it was Squall.

"Then, we won't have to worry…" Quistis mumbled, then changing subjects completely she continued,  "Jesus, if he trains here every day we won't have any more monsters!"

Selphie giggled and watched as Squall took the beast down with Renzokuken.  No one else in the room seemed as enthusiastic about it than the tiny SeeD.  Right when she was getting ready to cheer she felt someone grab her shoulder.  When she turned around she came face-to-face with Quistis again.

"What is it?" 

Without answering, the blond pointed a single finger at one of the many couples.  It took a while for Selphie's brain to process it, but once she did, she could have screamed.  Irvine was there, kissing a red headed girl and holding onto her hips.

Not knowing quite what to do, the poor girl stood there for a while, opening and closing her mouth.  She wanted to scream, but couldn't.  Her brain seemed to be short wiring.  She did the only thing she could think of-run.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tore past everyone.  Automatically, Quistis followed behind, shouting, "Wait up!  Selphie!"

Upon hearing the name, Irvine turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of her back.  "Crap," he murmured under his breath.

 "What's wrong?" the red head asked, looking up at him with her green eyes.

"Sorry sweetie.  I just remembered something…" he said smoothly.  Then, after pecking her on the cheek, took off after them.

Selphie hid her face in her hands and continued to run, finally making her way out of the Training Center, and passing Squall on the way out.

"What's wrong with them?" he asked himself as he watched Quistis and Irvine zip by after the tiny brunette.  Casually he put his gunblade back in its sheath, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked after the crazy procession.

*     *     *

"Leave me alone!" Selphie screamed, slamming the door in Quistis' face.

"C'mon Selph!  Let me in!  I just want to talk to you!" her friend pleaded from the other side of the door.  There was no response.  "Come _on _Selphie!  You can't stay in there forever!"

"I can sure try!" came the muffled reply.

"Open up!  Please!" the instructor continued banging on the door.

"No!"

The sound of boots came their way.  Irvine rounded a corner looking out of breath.  "Where's Selphie?" he managed.

Quistis glared daggers at him, but held her tongue.

"She's in her dorm, isn't she?" he asked, putting his hand on the doorknob.

"It's locked…" the blond warned.  Irvine however attempted to open it anyway.

"Sefie, honey, let me in."

"Get the hell away, Irvine!"  The cowboy's eyes widened.  Selphie hardly ever swore!

"I can explain everything!"

"What's the point?" she countered venomously.  "Go have a good time with what's-her-name."

For this, Irvine had no comeback.  Uneasily, he removed his hat and scratched his head.  Eagerly he searched for something to throw back at her.  "Well…I-uh, can't help I'm so popular with the ladies!" he blurted out.  Immediately after the words escaped his lips he covered his mouth with his hand.

Quistis' jaw dropped and she stared at him in pure hatred.  "I can't believe you!" she roared.  Then, before stomping off, she brought her hand across the cowboy's face.

Irvine stood in shock, touching his check that he was sure was already turned bright red.  Shaking his head, he turned back to the door.  "Are you going to let me in?"

"No!"

"Can someone tell me what's happening?" a monotonous voice asked.  Squall stood a few feet away, his face stoic and arms crossed.

"Nothing…" Irvine replied nervously.

"You liar!" Selphie yelled from within her room.

Squall stared at Irvine expectantly, but said nothing.

"Alright…" he began slowly, and his voice dropped.  "Selphie saw me…uh…kissing another girl…"

"You were all over her!" she retorted.

"You know what!?  Maybe I can't help the fact that you just don't satisfy enough!"

Squall's eyes narrowed and he scowled at Irvine.  "You know what I can't stand!?  Two-timers like yourself!" the commander spat, punching him in the same cheek Quistis had slapped him.  "Now leave her alone!"

Irvine looked around, bewildered before actually listening.  Squall's cold gaze followed him until he was gone completely.  "He shouldn't bother you anymore," he said through Selphie's door, then he walked off.

*     *     *

Selphie abandoned her post by her door and ran to her bed.  She let herself fall face first into the sheets, then hugged the pillow against her face.  "Thanks, Squall," she mumbled into it.

Then the tears came like never before.  Her breathing was ragged and long black streams of mascara were winding down her face.  She did the first thing that came to mind-pick up the phone and dial her friends' number.

"Hello?" the voice on the other line asked.

"Sae?  Is that you?" she asked shakily.

"Selph?  What's wrong?" 

"Sae?  Who is it?" someone in the background questioned.

"It's Selphie!"

"Oh! Tell her I said 'hi'!"

"Arisu says hi!"

"You guys…" Selphie couldn't help but chuckle a little through her tears.

"Hey!  Put it on speakerphone!" Arisu suggested.

"Good idea.  Hold on Selph!" There was a clicking sound, then the SeeD became aware of all the noise in their dorm.  The radio was blaring some rock music and the television was turned up full blast.  A cry of 'turn down the radio!' was heard, then the dorm got a bit quieter, except for the faint murmur of the television.

"Alright!" Arisu exclaimed, "How's it goin'?" 

Selphie was silent for a while, wondering how she could word her problem.  "I'm transferring back to Trabia," she finally blurted.  On the other line, everything was quiet besides laughter coming from the TV.  

"Y-You're leaving Balamb?" Sae eventually spoke up.

"But _why_?"

"Because I can't face _him _anymore."

"Who?" both girls asked at the same time.

"Irvine…"

"I warned you about him!  You deserved better!" Arisu declared loudly.

"Yeah, he was a jerk.  Forget about him!"

"He said he couldn't be satisfied with just me.  Maybe it's my fault…" Selphie cried into the phone.

"No, listen to me Sefie…" Arisu began, "It was not your fault.  You can't change him!  It can't be done!"

"In the words of my dad, 'he's a putz'," Sae laughed.

"Or a shmuck," Selphie added, smiling.

"Your dad is so weird, Sae!" Arisu managed between giggling.

"Yeah, but you've gotta love him!"

Selphie cringed upon hearing 'love'.  Had she really loved Irvine?  She thought she did, but he obviously didn't feel the same about her.  "I just wanted to say goodbye.  I'm leaving for my transfer papers now.  Sorry guys…"

"But-" the two squealed, but Selphie clicked the phone off before they finished.  She placed the phone back on the fluffy pink receiver.  Sighing she got up and looked at her reflection.  After rubbing as much of the mascara off as she possibly could, she opened her door.

"I knew you couldn't stay in there forever," Quistis said standing away from the wall she was previously leaning against.  She wasn't alone, Rinoa was there as well.

"I thought you left…" Selphie said, looking at the instructor.

"I came back after Irvine left."

"And I followed," Rinoa smiled, "I heard about what happened.  Do you want me to beat him up?"

"Would you?"

Rinoa laughed and hugged her friend.  "Sure I would.  Actually, I would probably pay Zell to." Everyone laughed.

"Well, I've got to get going…" the small SeeD said, walking past her friends.

"Where ya goin'?" Rinoa asked as she and Quistis followed.

"Umm…" Selphie looked down at her feet so as not to make eye contact.  "Cid's office."

"What for?" Quistis arched an eyebrow.  "What'd you do?"

For a second, she almost told them what she was really doing, but she didn't want them stopping her.  It could be a while before she would be able to transfer anyway.  "He wants to see me about the Garden Festival," she lied.

"But it was just a few weeks ago…" Rinoa pointed out, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"I know, he says he already has ideas for next year…"

"Oh, well have fun!  I have to go come up with tomorrow's lesson plans." Quistis waved goodbye, then headed in the direction of her dorm.'

"I'll go with you if you want…" the obsidian haired girl offered just as the SeeD was approaching the elevator.  While Selphie desperately searched for a polite way to say 'no', the sound of footsteps came their way.  Both girls spun around to see Zell looking immensely troubled.

"Hiya, Zell.  What's wrong?"  Selphie asked, forcing a smile.

Momentarily, he glanced between the friends.  "I really need to talk to someone.  I don't care who.  I saw you both first."

"Oh, that's nice!" Rinoa said sarcastically, yet her face still seemed friendly.  "Well, Selphie has to see the Headmaster, we can talk when we get back…"

"Don't worry 'bout me Rinny.  I can handle it myself."

"You sure?"

"It's not the first time I've been called to his office," Selphie grinned somewhat.

"Thanks Sefie!" Zell said.

"No problem, just clue me in when I get back," she winked.

"Alright!" Rinoa agreed, then all of a sudden she was aware that Zell had grabbed her wrist.

"C'mon, I'll tell you when we get to the Quad…" he said, dragging her away.

Thankful to be alone, Selphie boarded the elevator and pressed the 3F button.  A few minutes passed and then a dinging sound resonated.  The doors opened and she got off.

"Hello Selphie, what brings you here?" Xu asked, looking up from her desk.

"I need to see the Headmaster," the younger SeeD replied bluntly.

"Well, he's meeting with someone right now.  What do you need to see him for?" 

"I need some transfer papers," she mumbled, eyes fixated on the floor.

"What for?" Xu asked, pulling some papers out of one her desk drawers.

"…Transferring…"

"I think I figured that much out," she rolled her eyes and handed Selphie the papers.  "Alright.  Fill these out and give them back to me when you're done."

Nodding, Selphie sat down in an unoccupied chair.  "Can I bum a pen off you?" she asked.

"Yup," Xu said, throwing one at her.

*     *     *

What's wrong, Zell?" Rinoa asked the troubled looking blond as she took a seat on one of the Quad's stairs.

"It's…uh, well…" he rubbed the back of his head, "Amy was just sent to work at Esthar Garden."

"Oh, Zell.  I'm sorry!  But I'm sure you'll still be able to see her!"

"No, I won't…" he slouched forward, and it seemed that he became immensely interested in the tree.  It got quiet, so Rinoa decided to break the silence.

"How come?" she nudged him in the side with her elbow.

The martial artist took a deep breath, "Okay, I went to see her off this morning, right?  Before she boarded, she looked at me and said, 'Sorry Zell, but long distance relationships never work out.' I told her that we could still try, but she just shook her head saying that it would be too difficult and we might as well break up now."

Rinoa wasn't sure of what to say, so she was grateful when Zell continued to speak.

"I couldn't believe it!  My mouth seemed to have stopped working, so I nodded and watched as she boarded the airship.  When she got on, I saw her look out the window and wave.  I waved back.  As soon as the ship took off, I wandered aimlessly around."

"Sorry, I'm rambling.  But it felt good just to get it off of my chest."

At last!  Something she knew how to respond to!  "Don't worry about it, what're friends for?" she smiled.  His ice-blue eyes averted from the tree and looked at her.

"Thanks for listening, Rin."

"No problem," she put her arm around his shoulder in a comforting manner.  "Squall never voices his problems, so it feels good to actually listen to someone once in a while."

"You're the greatest," he said kissing her on the cheek, then he stood up.  "I'm going back to the dorms.  See you tomorrow."

"A-Alrighty, good night!" she called after him.  After he left she brought her hand up to her cheek.  Why would he do that?  To him, it was probably nothing more than just a friendly peck, and that's all it should have been for her.  But why was her heart pounding so hard?

*          *          *

We hope you enjoyed the first chapter!  The second will be up pretty soon…hopefully.  


	2. Chapter 2

**Grasshopper, Cherichicola, Aeris Deathscythe and Oblivion Viruses**: Thanks guys for checking out this fic as well!  You all are awesome!!  ^_^

**Mr. Nice Guy**: If you couldn't tell we don't like Irvine very much.  ^_^ Hehe.  

Taming the Lion: Chapter Two

            "Sae!  Arisu!  Cut it _out_!" Selphie yelled.  The headmaster approved of the papers and she was ready to leave, but the two girls had blocked her way out of her dorm. 

"You _can't _leave!" Sae pleaded as she nervously tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. 

"This is so stupid!  All this over one guy!?" Arisu yelled, throwing her arms up.  "Let me tell you Selph, he isn't worth all this!" 

 "Arisu is right.  Don't leave!  You've only been here for a year!"  
Selphie's eyes welled up and her lip trembled as she began to argue.  "What about my other friends?  The ones I left in Trabia?" 

At this statement, the girls were at a loss for words.  They looked at each other, then back at her.

"Fine, we won't stop you," Sae sighed.   The golden haired girl that stood next to her looked appalled.

"You're letting her leave!?" Arisu exclaimed.  The brunette elbowed her in the side and shot her a glance that stated 'I have a plan'.  If Selphie noticed, then she pretended not to.

"Just promise you'll visit."

"I promise," the SeeD smiled and hugged her friends goodbye.  Then, picking up her luggage she walked off.

Truth be told she didn't have much to carry.  A lot of the items she owned she ended up throwing away.  Everything seemed to remind her of 'him'.  When she got to Trabia she would start completely over.  Or, that was the plan.

"…Are you sure you don't need help!?" Arisu called after her, but Selphie was already almost out of eyesight.  After she disappeared completely, the blonde turned to her cohort.  "So, what's the plan?"

"I said _we_ wouldn't stop her," Sae smiled.  "So, we'll get someone else to."

"Who?"

"I don't know yet.  I guess whoever passes by that knows her."

"Well…that's blunt." Arisu stated, rolling her eyes.  "But I still like the way you think!" They gave each other a high five.

"What time is it anyway?" Sae asked as she leaned against the wall.

"Almost time for curfew…"

"That means someone will _have _to pass by soon!" 

As suspected, the girls didn't have to wait long before someone came strolling down the hallway.  Though they weren't sure if they could convince him.  "Commander Leonhart!" they squealed simultaneously.

The SeeD looked down at them momentarily before answering with a simple, "Hmm?"

"We have terrible news!" Arisu exclaimed.

"We tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen!"

"What happened?  Who wouldn't listen?" he asked, confusedly.

"Selphie!"

"She's transferred to Trabia!"

"What!?  Damn…"

"You _have _to go after her!"

"Why don't you do it?" he spat, then he continued to walk to his dorm.

"Because we told her we wouldn't!" Sae explained.

"Whatever…" he shrugged, opening his door.

"So, you're just going to let her run off!?

"I never said that," he reappeared, only this time with his gunblade.  "Is she catching a train in Balamb?"

"Yes, thank you so much commander!"

"I'm only doing this because I know you won't leave me alone if I don't," he explained as he sheathed his weapon.

Arisu giggled, "Hell no we wouldn't!"

_I'm not going to be back in time for curfew…_he thought as he walked to the Parking Lot.  To make matters worse, when he got there he saw that the Garden car was missing.  

"I'll have to get a cab then..."

*          *          *

Selphie sat on a bench in the Balamb train station.  The night was chilly, and you couldn't even see the moon behind the thick clouds.  "Great, that's all I need.  Rain…" she thought out loud as she looked skyward.

"Those departing for Dollet, please assemble on Platform three.  Your train has just arrived.  Also, last call for Deling City!" the loud intercom droned on.

Sighing, Selphie looked down at her ticket stub.  The train for Trabia wasn't even due at the station for another hour, and if it began to storm then it could delay it even more.

"Where are you going, dearie?" an elderly woman asked as she sat down on the bench too.

"Trabia, you?"

"I'm going to visit my grandbabies in Winhill," her wrinkled face formed a smile.  "But I have to stop at Timber first, then take another train to Winhill."

"Oh…that's a pain…"

"What are you going to Trabia for?  It's awful cold up there.  A skinny thing like you would freeze to death!" the old woman pinched Selphie's arm as if to prove a point.

"Uh, to visit friends…"

"Don't lie to me.  I'm no fool," the elderly woman smiled again.  "You're running away from something…or someone."

"But how did yo-?"

"In your eyes, dearie.  Your eyes say it all.  Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's a long story…"

"Dearie, I'm eighty-five years old.  I don't mind long stories.   But I won't force it out of you either."

Just as Selphie opened her mouth the intercom interrupted.  "The train to Timber has just arrived, please gather your belongings and head to Platform seven.  The train to Trabia is due late.  Last call for Dollet!"

Glad that she wouldn't have to retell the story, Selphie helped the woman to her train.  "You'll have to tell me the story some other time.  Don't freeze in Trabia, you hear?" she called out the window as the she waved goodbye.  After she left, Selphie walked to the ticket booth.

"When is the train to Trabia due?"

"The ride to Trabia has been delayed due to a blizzard.  It may not be here until morning at this rate," the man said.

"Oh…" she sat back down on the bench.  The streetlights were the only source of light.  The moon and stars still were not visible at all from behind the blanket of clouds.

"The train to Dollet has departed," the intercom informed as lightning struck in the distance.

"Oh, this is swell," Selphie said sarcastically as it started to sprinkle.  If worse came to worse, she could always stay at the Dincht's house, but she was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

The rain got heavier, and before long she abandoned her bench to stand under the overhand that the train station provided.  The wind blew, occasionally lifting the spray off of the streets, thus drenching the SeeD even more.

Now she was wet, tired, cold, and extremely miserable.  Her teeth chattered, but she refused to take her coat out.  It wouldn't be of much use if were wet anyway.

All thoughts of staying at the Dincht's vanished.  It was late and she hated to wake them, but she didn't have enough gil for a hotel either.  She spent most of her money on the train ticket alone.

As the storm worsened, her tears fell heavier, though looking at her you couldn't tell she was crying.

"Selphie!?" a gruff voice yelled over the sound of the rain slapping the road.  She looked up to see Squall; he was just as wet as her if not worse.  "I'm here to 'stop you'."

A part of her was relieved, but the other part remained stubborn.  "Sorry, but I'm going ba-a-ACH-OO!" she rubbed her red nose before continuing, "…back to Trabia."

"No you're not," he said, stepping forward.  "You're in no condition.  I'm taking you back to Balamb."

"I'm not going.  A-ACHOO!"

"I'm taking you anyway," he stated.  Taking another step forward he reached out and pulled the petite girl over his shoulder.  Too tired to fight, she gave in and allowed him to carry her off, though once in a while she would hit his back weakly with her fist.

Only the constant bouncing motion kept Selphie awake.  The feeling of her feet touching the ground jolted her back to reality.  They were now standing outside the town and Squall did not look pleased.

"Damn," he grumbled, kicking at a nearby puddle.

"What's wrong?" Selphie asked, rubbing her arms vigorously to try and keep as warm as possible.  

"I had a cab waiting, but I guess he took the money and left."  It was silent between the two as they pondered their options.

"S-s-so what's the plan?" she asked as she sat down on top of her suitcase, still shivering.

Squall sighed and looked down the road.  "I suppose we could always hitch hike…"

"Will we get there faster?"

"Yeah, it's probably our best bet."

"…Whatever…ACHOO!"

Squall looked at her suspiciously.  That was _his _line!  He had never seen Selphie act this way, and it almost worried him.

"Hey!  I think I see some headlights!" she announced pointing to Balamb.  Sure enough a car was coming their way.  Squall walked to the side of the road and held his thumb up.

The car slowed down and a teenager poked his head out of the window.  "Right on dude!" he smiled, giving him a thumbs up.  Then, he peeled out and Squall was soaked even more by the tsunami that followed.

His dark hair stuck to his face and he spit the water out of his mouth.  "I think we need a different approach."

"I have a-ACHOO!  …An idea."  Selphie stood up.  "It always works." She put her foot on top of her suitcase and started lifting her skirt.

Before Squall stop her, someone pulled over.  "Need a ride?"  They gazed at a semi truck with a label on the side reading 'Al's Fish Transport'.

"Yeah!  Could you take us to Balamb Garden?" Squall yelled over a boom of thunder.

"Sure thing.  I'm on my way there anyway."

"Yeah…where else could you go?" he mumbled.  Luckily the trucker didn't hear him.

"Hop in…"

Squall walked around to the other side of the truck and climbed into the passenger seat, whereas Selphie decided to climb over the driver.  First she grabbed onto the nearest object to pull herself up.  That just so happened to be the chain that activated the horn.  As the horn blared, she managed to make it inside the vehicle.  After that much was accomplished, she began to crawl over the man driving the truck.  This, in turn was disastrous as her boot got stuck in the steering wheel.  Embarrassedly, Squall pretended to be very interested with a dead bug on the windshield.  Finally, the sopping wet girl managed to dislodge her foot and she sat between the two men, finally relaxing.

"That's _it!_" the driver roared.  By this point he was infuriated.  "If you want a ride you'll have to ride in back with the cargo!" He jerked his thumb behind him.

Selphie groaned and began her journey back out of the car.  Not wanting to lose the ride completely, Squall grabbed the back of her dress and pulled her out through his door.

The two walked to the back of the truck and Squall started to fumble with the latches.  It wasn't long before he threw the door open, exposing the cramped up space that they would be staying in for the next half hour.  The area was cold and several fish carcasses littered the ground.  Not to mention the stench was horrible.

Squall gave Selphie a boost so that she could actually get inside without hurting herself or anyone else.  When Squall successfully got in as well, he shut the door behind him.  For a while they sat in the darkness until the driver switched the lights on.

Squall's attention shifted to Selphie.  It appeared that the smell had caused her to start retching.  "Hyne, Selphie!  Please don't throw up!  Not in here!"'

She turned to look at him.  Her face was pale and she looked disgusted.  Instead of saying anything, she sat down next to him and shoved her nose into the fur of his jacket.

"Selphie…that's my jacket…"

"It reeks in here!" was her muffled reply.

"But it's still _my _jacket."

"Fine.  Then I'll just throw up all over myself and all over you…is that what you want?"

Well, he didn't' really want _that _to happen, but there was still one thought that bothered him.  "Selphie…your nose isn't running, is it?"

He saw her quickly try to wipe her nose.  "No…" she answered uneasily.

Sighing, he brought his hand to his forehead.  "Damn, I'm going to have to get this coat washed…"

"Sorry, this is all my fault…" she began to sob uncontrollably.  Normally he would have said something cold, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.  How many things could go wrong in a single night?  She must have shattered the record.

A few minutes passed and her sobbing slowly vanished.  The poor girl had cried herself to sleep.  She was still wet and goose bumps had sprouted all up her arms.  Because she was asleep and probably wouldn't notice his act of kindness, Squall carefully removed his jacket and draped it over her.  This action caused her head to slide down his chest and land in his lap.

The sound of rain slapping against the tin roof was almost peaceful and Squall found himself relaxing.  Selphie sneezed in her sleep and switched positions, causing her wet chestnut hair to fall in her face.  She looked so childish when she slept, so innocent.

Nonchalantly, he reached down and brushed the hair out of her face.  When his fingers came in contact with her forehead he realized that she was running a fever.

"I guess we get to visit Kadowaki…" he said under his breath.  Surely the ride wouldn't last that much longer?

Squall himself dozed off but was awoken when the door lifted.  "We're at Garden," the man announced.  Slowly, the commander's eyes adjusted to the light that the Garden provided.

"Selphie, we're here…" he whispered, but she didn't answer.  She was fast asleep.

As carefully as he could, he sat her up.  He then wrapped her legs around his waist and piggybacked her into the building.  Waiting for them in the front was Sae and Arisu.

"You have her!" Sae squealed happily.

"Shh!" Squall let go of one of her legs to put a finger to his mouth.  "She's sick."

"Oh, sorry," they whispered in unison.

"I need to get her to Kadowaki's office."

"No can do," Arisu interrupted.  "First of all, the infirmary is closed.  It's past midnight!  Second of all, everyone thinks she's gone," she pointed to the sleeping Selphie.

"Yeah, you'll have to sort things out with Cid before you let anyone know she's here," Sae continued.

"Well, I can't take care of her _and come up with an explanation for Cid!" he whispered harshly._

"That's what we're fore," the brunette beamed.

"Yeah, we'll take care of Cid while you take care of Selphie."

"Alright.  How long do you think it will take?" Squall asked.

"A few days…" Arisu said reluctantly.

"What!?  Why that long?"

"Well, we need to do some research for a good alibi, then Cid will have to get her file back on the Balamb network.  I'm sure he's already mailed them to Trabia…" Sae explained.

"So, I have to keep her hidden in _my dorm basically for the rest of the weekend?"_

The girls looked at each other, then back at him nodding.

"Sorry commander.  We would let her stay in our dorm, but we don't have enough room."

"B-but SeeDs get their own room!" 

"We aren't SeeDs," the blonde stated, smiling.

"We're afraid of going into battle and not making it out alive."

"So…why are you attending Garden?"

"Because it's fun!" they answered simultaneously.

"Whatever…" he mumbled.  "You two better start your research first thing in the morning."

"We will!" they said, saluting him.

Without so much as a goodbye, he left, still carrying Selphie on his back.  He had to dodge the Garden faculty, but he managed to make it to his dorm without being caught.  If someone found out that a member of the opposite sex was staying in his dorm it could mean expulsion.  Not to mention the fit Rinoa would throw.

Trying to look as unsuspicious as possible, Squall quickly shut his door and locked it.  As he was setting her down on the floor he realized something he didn't before, they had left Selphie's suitcase on the side of the road near Balamb!  

"Wake up Selph," he whispered as he shook her.  Slowly one of her eyes opened.

"You need to change out of your wet clothes.  I have some clothes you can use."  He rummaged through his dresser until he found a plain white shirt and some baggy pajama pants.  "I don't my bed all wet."

At the last sentence Selphie looked nothing short of horrified. "Y-your bed!?

"Shh!  Keep it down!"

"Squall…why am I in your room?" she whispered.

"You transferred, remember?  You don't have a room." Her expression didn't chance.  "Don't worry, I'll sleep on the floor.

"But that's not fa-a-ACHOO!  Fair."

"You're sick.  I wouldn't be fair if I made _you_ sleep on the floor.  Now, go get changed." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the attached bathroom.

Still looking troubled about everything, she did as she was told.  While she changed, he busied himself with looking for extra pillows and blankets.  He finally found some in the closet; so then he started working on a makeshift bed.  Before long, Selphie walked out of the bathroom.

It was amazing to Squall just how small she was.  His clothes were way too big.  The shirt was like a tent on her and she was stepping all over the pants.  IT was very comical just to look at.

He walked to the light switch and stopped to look at the brunette.  "Do you need anything?" She shook her head 'no'.  "Okay," he flipped the switch and lay down in his make shift bed.

"Thanks for everything Squall…" she yawned. "Good night."

"G'night," he mumbled into his pillow.

*          *          *

"Arisu!  Sae!  _Please _pay attention!" an instructor scolded as she threw down the book she was reading out of.

"Sorry Instructor Daly," Sae blushed and tried desperately to hide the papers she was reading.

"What exactly are you doing that is more important than using curative magic?" the instructor asked, crossing her arms.

"Uh…" Arisu stated nervously.  "We're doing research on the human brain under heavy mental stress."

"Arisu!" Sae mumbled, nudging her.  The instructor still didn't look happy.  "I'm sorry Ms. Daly, but do you think you could let us see Instructor Trepe?"

"Yeah, we've been meaning to talk to her anyway."

The brown haired instructor looked appalled at this request.  "You two, come to my desk.  Everyone else, talk amongst yourselves."  The classroom was now full of noise as the girls made their way to the front of the room.

"What is this all about?" she asked as she sat down in her seat.  "Why are you doing research about stress?"

For a moment Sae and Arisu looked at each other.  They couldn't tell her the truth.  Arisu was the first to speak.  "Uh, you see…" she pondered a moment, "Sae here is very stressed!" the blonde slapped her friend on the back.

The instructor raised her eyebrows, "Is this true, Sae?"

"Uh…oh yeah!  I may even be dangerous…"

Arisu hit herself in the forehead to try and keep herself from laughing.

"Well, if that's the case then I want you to go to your dorm and get some rest.  I suggest you go see Kadowaki also."

"Yes ma'am!"  They saluted her.

"You both are excused then."

"Thanks for understanding, Instructor!"  The two girls then ran out of the classroom and straight for the library.

*          *          *

"Are you done yet?" Squall asked through the bathroom door.  From inside he could hear retching and the toilet flushing.  "…Guess not…"

"This is so disgusting!" Selphie whined, she sounded as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Do you need help with anything…"

"Uh-huh…"

Reluctantly, he opened the door.  The short girl was sitting on her knees with her face hovering over the toilet bowl.

"If you don't stop throwing up you won't have anything left to throw up!" he sighed.  The SeeD commander stood behind her and held her hair out of the way.  She vomited a few more times before sitting up.

"I think I'm done now."

"Good." Squall said letting go of her hair.  He didn't know how much more he could take.  "Why don't you lay down and I'll see if someone can bring us something to eat.  Soup for you." Selphie nodded and walked back over to his bed.

"Aren't you going to work today?" she asked, reaching for the box of Kleenexes.  

"I'll call Cid and tell him I'm sick."

Squall was amazing her more and more.  This was most uncharacteristic of him.  _I guess what Rinny said was true.  He really isn't all that bad.  _

While she got comfortable he picked the phone and started thinking about who he should cal first.  He decided on Kadowaki.

"Hello, doctor?  I have a question."

"Yes, what is it?"

He paused for a moment.  How could be word this without sounding suspicious?  "What disease exhibits the following symptoms?  Vomiting, sneezing, runny nose and high fever…?

"Why Squall, are you sick?"

"Um, yes.  Very."

"It sounds to me like the flu.  Stay in bed, get as much rest as possible, and drink your fluids."

"Thanks doc.  Oh and do you think you could call Cid and tell him I won't be working for a few days?"

"Of course I will.  Get well soon!  And come see me if you need anything!

Sighing, he hung up the phone. "Well Sefie, I think you have the flu," he mumbled to the already sleeping girl.  Shaking his head he picked the phone back up.

"Zell?  Could you do me a favor?" 

"Sure thing, Squall.  Whaddaya need?"

"I have the flu and can't leave my dorm.  Doctor's orders," he lied.  "Could you bring me something to eat?  Preferably soup?"

"Oh, okay.  I'll be there in a bit."

 As he waited, Squall began to straighten up the room.  He started with his 'bed'.  Casually, he bent down and folded the blanket up then placed it in the closet with the pillow.  He had just moved to his bedside table when there was a knock at the door.

"Coming," he announced as he quickly transferred some used tissues into the trashcan.  After this was accomplished, he walked to the door.  Sure enough, it was Zell standing there with a tray of food.  There was a bowl of soup and a hotdog.

"Uh, if you don't think you can hold down the hotdog, you can always give it to me," Zell said, pointing to his favorite food.  

"I think I can manage," Squall rolled his eyes and shut the door in his face.

"O-okay!  I just didn't want you to feel like you _had _to eat it!" the blond called from the other side of the door.  The commander couldn't help but chuckle at him.  That boy would do anything for a hotdog!

"Selphie, food's here," he announced as he sat down on the floor.  The brunette stirred and lifted her head.  Her trademark flipped-out curls had long since straightened, so her chestnut hair was sitting at her shoulders, making her look much more mature.

"What kind of soup did he get?" she asked groggily.

"It looks like chicken noodle to me," he said as he took a bite out of the hotdog.  She nodded and got out of bed before plopping down beside Squall.  Neither of them spoke much.  Selphie still didn't feel good, and Squall was preoccupied.  He wondered how long everyone would fall for this.  He rarely ever got sick because all of his exercising had built him up a very strong immune system.  

"Squall…" she said worriedly.  This brought him out of his train of thought long enough to look at her.  The younger SeeD had cupped her hands over her mouth and had started getting up for the bathroom again.  

"Damn!" he said under his breath as he followed her.

*          *          *

"Good afternoon Cid…" Sae stated as she entered his office.  Arisu was by her side, and she was holding several documents.

"Oh good God…what have I done?" he muttered.  Seeing these two meant one thing: trouble.

"We have come to speak with you on behalf of our friend, Selphie Tilmitt," the blond beamed.  Cid still looked horrified.

"It has been brought to our understanding that you recently gave your consent to Selphie, upon hearing her request to transfer back to Trabia Garden."

"We have been specially selected by the first rank SeeD, Selphie, to make sure you eliminate all evidence of that decision.  We are also here to provide you with Selphie's most recent decision to stay a member of Balamb Garden."

Sae took a big breath before starting her next line, "Her decision to transfer back to Trabia was made while she was under heavy mental stress.  According to Dr. Kadowaki's college research paper on the psychology of the human brain under heavy stress, we can safely say that her rash decision was made due to this stress.  It is also proven…

"Okay!  Okay!  She stays!  I GOT IT!  I can't take any more information!!" Cid yelled, as he began to rub his temples.

The two girls exchanged glances and evil smiles crept across their faces.  They absolutely loved to torture the guy.  "That could also be due to stress sir.  Sudden outbursts like that would make one suspect that you have problems managing your anger." Arisu explained.

"You two, you aren't SeeDs are you?" 

"Nope!" they answered in unison, sporting huge cheesy smiles.

"Well, if you are able to strategize this well and retain this much information…just to drive your enemy insane then I'm led to believe that the both of you could make outstanding SeeDs."

"Nooo!" they began to cry.  "How could you do such a thing!?" 

"Did I mention that you get a 2000 gil salary for starters?" he added in tactfully.  

Sae and Arisu looked at each other again and a more evil smile spread across their face.  "Money…"

"And your specific position as SeeDs would be interrogators.  We'd get all the information out of them"

"Yes, sir.  It sounds great sir!" Sae saluted.  This was getting better and better by the minute!  "But, um.  How soon could she come back?"

"I've already sent her profile and records into Trabia.  It will take about three days for them to come back.  Where has she been staying all this time?"

Uneasily, Arisu answered this one.  "In the Balamb hotel."

"Oh, that's good." Cid looked back down at his papers.

The friends started out the door, but just as they were opening it, Cid stopped them.  "Oh, speaking of transferring.  We have a transfer student from Galbadia Garden.  Will you show her around?  She should be downstairs with Xu."

"Yes sir!" they said together, then left the room.  Normally, they would have spent a few minutes riding the elevator up and down, but they decided to find the transfer student.  

*          *          *

"H-hey, Quisty.  Can I talk to you for a minute?" Rinoa asked uneasily as she poked her head through the classroom door.  The blond instructor nodded and placed her book down.

"Class, read page 326 to yourself while I talk to Miss Heartilly outside," she said, then shutting the door behind her, turned to her friend.  "What's wrong Rinny?"

"I'm just so confused!  When's your class over?"

Looking at her wrist watch she stated, "About another fifteen minutes…"

Now Rinoa looked as uncomfortable as ever.  This wasn't very characteristic of her, Quistis knew that for a face.  "What do you need to talk to me about?"

The dark haired girl looked around making sure no one else was paying attention.  "…It's about Zell…" she finally said, then she stopped.

Sighing, Quistis rolled her eyes.  "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?  I mean, it's really awkward…"

"I promise," Quistis reassured.

Still looking uncomfortable, she continued.  "I guess that Amy was sent to work at Esthar Garden and Zell was upset.  I sat an comforted him and…he kissed me." At this last statement Quistis' jaw dropped.

"He _WHAT_!?"

"No!  No, no, no!  Not like that!" Rinoa added in, holding up her hands as if to stop the instructor if she decided to charge.  "He kissed me on the cheek!"

"So?  What are you getting at?" she didn't really like where this conversation was going.  What would Squall do if she broke up with him for his best friend?

"Does Zell…like me?" the younger girl eventually blurted out.

"You know what Rinny?  I'm sorry but you'll have to wait.  We'll talk after class."

The raven head looked upset as Quistis walked back inside the classroom.  She stubbornly sat on the floor next to the door and waited.

*          *          *

"Um…this is the parking lot!" Arisu said, pointing happily to the facility.

"I think I could gather that much from the sign that said 'Parking Lot'," the transfer student said in her thick country accent.  She had short brown hair with hazel and jade mixed eyes.  Her name was Renee.

"Are you sure?  Study it!  You never know when it's subject to change!" Sae added.

"Does it change frequently?"

"…No…" both girls said in unison.

"At least not as long as we've lived here..." Arisu finished.

"How long have you been here?" Renee asked.

"Most of our lives…I was six when I got here, Arisu was seven."

"Look, can't we do something _fun _in our spare time?  I mean, do we hafta tour the Garden?  It aint much different from Galbadia Garden…"

Sae and Arisu looked at each other and grinned.  "To the cafeteria!" they exclaimed.  Together the group of three sprinted in the direction of the cafeteria.

When they got there they saw something they didn't quite expect; Irvine.  Apparently they didn't expect to see them either because he dropped his tray at the sight of them.

"Ya did it again, Kinneas," Renee smirked, folding her arms.

Blushing, the cowboy quickly covered up the wet spot on the front of his chaps and ran off.  Both girls looked at their comrade with new respect.

"How'd you do that?" the blond asked excitedly.

"He's been 'fraid o' me ever since kindergarten," she laughed.  "I've beaten 'im up a few times fer bein'…himself."

"O Great One!  Teach us your ways!" they bowed together.

Renee laughed again, "I will later…" It seemed as if she was going to finish, but something else caught her attention.  "Who's that?" she whispered, jerking her head over to one of the many occupied tables.

"Oh?" Sae followed her eyes and saw a blond boy sitting and enjoying a hotdog by himself.  "That's Seifer Almasy."

"Why's he sittin' all by his lonesome?"

"Well…err, you see…" Arisu began.  "During the whole Time Compression scare he aided the sorceress.  He was lucky to get back into Garden.  Everyone thinks he's a traitor."

"Oh?" Renee's eyes softened as she studied him.  "He has no friends at all?"

"Well, yeah.  Fujin and Raijin still stick by him, but they no longer attend Garden.  I think they were too embarrassed to come back," Sae explained.

"I'm gonna go talk to him!" the transfer student explained as she began to march over to him.  As she got no more than five feet away she tripped over a protruding foot from a table.

"Renee!  Are you alright!?" the blond cried as she and her friend ran to their fallen comrade.

"I'm fine," the brunette reassured as she stood up, rubbing her head.  Looking over at Seifer's table, she realized that he had left.  All she could see was his gray cloak swishing as he walked through the door.  "…But I _will talk to him someday," she declared._

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Whew…that was a long chapter!  Sorry it took us so long to update, hopefully the long chapter will make up for it!!.  We're lazy most of the time.  ^_^ I know, some of the things Squall does may seem out of character, but we're trying to keep him as close to his character as possible.  So, don't be to angry with us.  Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

**To all readers**: Wow!  It's so great that so many people are actually reading this!  We figured that since it wasn't with original pairings not many people would try it out.  Thanks everyone!  ^_^

**A **SQUALPHIE** Fan: **What language do you speak?  That is so neat that you would read something in a different language!  I'm taking Spanish in school, and Bree is taking French, we couldn't imagine reading an entire story in either language!  

**Banshee Puppet: **Thanks for the compliment on Sae and Arisu!  We were afraid that since they were made up characters and not a part of the original team that they would be disliked.

**XxMazLeonhartxX: **We agree that the "Squinoa" fics are very cliché.  That's the reason we don't write romances with them.  -_-  They just get old after awhile. 

**A/N: **Again, thanks everyone for reading this!  We are so sorry that we are so slow at updating, but you have to realize that the new school year has begun and we have to get into the habit of writing AND doing homework.  (Not to mention I've been getting grounded a LOT –Anna).  So, please bear with us!  The fourth chapter is in the works as I type this up!  And for those of you who are waiting for "Swapping Souls" to be updated….we are terribly sorry for the delay.  We're working on that one too.  As a matter of fact we have the entire chapter planned out, it's just a matter of writing it.  

Taming the Lion: Chapter 3

About ten minutes came and went.  A bell sounded and the class stampeded through the door.  Rinoa still sat on the ground, waiting for Quistis to exit as well.  When the instructor did not show, Rinoa walked into the classroom.  Quistis sat at her desk, obviously grading papers.

The raven-haired girl plopped down into a chair in front of the desk, feeling much like a student who was getting ready to be punished.  Sighing, the blond instructor pulled off her glasses, rubbed the bridge of her nose, and put them back on.

"Alright, let's talk," Quistis said as she leaned back in her chair.

"Well…" Rinoa started, then fell silent.  The two stared at each other and Rinoa knew that Quistis was not happy with her, at all.  She started again, trying to sound confident, "_Does _he?" 

The SeeD instructor tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear.  "Look Rin, I'm just as clueless as you are.  But haven't you given this any thought at all?" 

"Of course I have!"

"Then what do you think Squall would do?  Huh?  Zell is his best friend!" 

At this, the younger girl blushed.  She hadn't really given it _that _much thought….  "Quisty, I really need support.  I'm not sure what to think…"

Quistis pursed her lips and stared down at Rinoa.  "Sorry, but you don't have my support."  With that she slammed her hands down on the desk, pushed herself up and walked out of the classroom.

Rinoa still sat in her seat feeling speechless.  Never did the thought of ruining Zell's and Squall's friendship cross her mind.

_Why is she so upset?  I was just being honest.  _Rinoa thought bitterly.  Rolling her eyes, she got up and exited the room as well.

Feeling both grumpy and confused, she trudged down the hallway.  Normally in situations like this she would talk to Squall, but right now that thought didn't seem to be appealing.  Besides, she didn't want to bother him while he was sick.

Selphie was good to talk to, but she transferred overnight without telling anyone.  Though she didn't leave any notes, everyone knew the reason.  It was Irvine.

Still feeling very crummy, Rinoa kicked a trashcan as she passed it.

"Whoa!  What did the trashcan ever do to you?" someone said from behind.  The voice was extremely familiar and made her heart skip a beat.

"Zell?" she breathed, clutching her chest.  Turning around she sat the blond martial artist smiling brightly at her.

"The one and only!"

For a split second Rinoa could have hit him for causing her so much confusion, but decided against it.  It got eerily silent between the two.  The question began to eat at Rinoa, and before long she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Zell, I've got a question…"

"It isn't rhetorical is it?" he asked, still smiling.

"No."

"Good!  I hate those!" he winked.  "So, what do you want to ask me?"

"Do you, err…like me?"

Zell turned a pale shade of green for a split second and felt his heart leap into his throat.  He decided it was best to answer this question sarcastically, "No Rin.  I hate you." Maybe this way she would drop the subject early….

"I'm serious!"

_Oh Hyne, Squall's gonna kill me._  Zell could feel himself start to blush, so he quickly put his hand over his face to try and cover it.

"Well?  Do you?" she urged.

"Uh…" he pulled his hand down, though he could feel his face getting redder by the second.  "Yes…" he finally admitted.  "I always have…"

Both stood there, not sure of what to say.  It was Rinoa who broke the silence.  "You know…I'm not sure what to think right now," she said as she nervously fiddled with the rings on her necklace.  _His _ring.

Zell opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but Rinoa had already run off.

"Gah!  I've just screwed everything up!" he yelled, mentally slapping himself.

*          *          *

"Hey, Selphie…" Squall said as he stood up.  "I'm going to take a shower.  Sae and Arisu are on their way to discuss what they found out while talking to Cid.  I think I'll be out before they arrive though…"

"Alright," Selphie mumbled.  As much as she wanted to get up and walk around she was restricted to his dormitory.  So, her only real entertainment was to bug Squall occasionally.

Beaming, she picked up the remote control and turned the television on.  She flipped through the channels until landing on what she was looking for.  She turned the volume all the way up so that the 'Sesame Street' theme blared.

"Turn that crap down!" Squall yelled from within his bathroom.  Restraining from laughing, she started her search for something to watch.  Finally, she landed on a game show and watched boringly as Stacy from Winhill won five thousand gil.

During her sick time, Selphie had come to the conclusion that there was _nothing _to watch during the day!  According to Squall it was because hardly anyone is ever home during the day, but she thought the television stations were just 'inconsiderate of the ill'.  

"I'm going to write a complaint letter," she muttered to herself as she turned off the TV.  She threw the blankets off and began to look for something to write with when someone knocked on the door.

"It's them, get the door Selph…" came Squall's muffled voice.

Abandoning her mission to find paper, she walked to the door.  It had been about two days since she had seen Sae and Arisu, so she was very eager to talk.  Without bothering to look through the peephole, she threw the door open.  Who she found was neither Sae or Arisu, but Rinoa.

For forever the two stood there, mouths agape, not sure of what to say.  Rinoa's brown eyes scanned Selphie, taking everything in.  She looked disheveled and exhausted.  Her chestnut hair was all over the place and she was wearing Squall's clothes.  A look of disgust swept over Rinoa's face, but still both seemed to have lost their voice.

Selphie was the first to recover, "R-R-Rinny!" she stammered.  From within the bathroom came the unmistakable sound of a shampoo bottle hitting the floor.  The running water was turned off and Selphie listened as Squall desperately scrambled around.

Seconds later the bathroom door swung open and there he stood.  His brown hair was wet and sticking to his face and droplets pf water were running down his bare chest and legs.  He had a towel wrapped around his waist that he held together with one hand in the back.  Panting, he managed to make out an uneasy, "Rinoa!  W-What're you doing here?" 

Rinoa still stood in the doorway looking infuriated.  Selphie put her hand to her mouth, backed up and sat on the bed looking horrorstruck.  The sick girl began to shake violently, then got sick on his rug.  For once, Squall ignored her as she ran into the bathroom.  His eyes were still fixed on Rinoa, hoping that this was not happening.  

"What am _I _doing here!?  What the hell is _she _doing here?" Rinoa finally spat, pointing at the bathroom door.

"R-Rin, I-"

"So, you were sick this entire time, huh?" she continued.  Tears of rage were making their way down her cheeks.

"You won't let me ta-"

"I thought she transferred!  What is she doing in your dorm!?"

"Irvine-"

"Oh, okay…pen the blame on someone else!"

"No!  Rinny, you have the wrong idea completely!" Selphie yelled as she immerged from the bathroom, still looking very pale.

"And you!" Rinoa turned up her nose at Selphie and pointed a slim finger at her.  "You were supposed to be my friend!"

From then on out, all attempts to talk it out civilly were abandoned.  Squall and Rinoa had begun yelling at each other.  Looking stunned, Selphie went back to sit on the bed and listened.

"The little slut!" Rinoa raged, "I can't believe you'd cheat on me with _her!_"

"Rinoa!  If you would shut your damn mouth for a split second I could tell you what happened!" Squall yelled, making her jump.

Selphie hugged her legs to her chest and cried into her knees.  _It's all my fault…. _ It seemed like an eternity, Rinoa just glared at Squall, seething with anger.  

"Don't be surprised if you see me with another guy!" she yelled.  Then, before he could explain himself she brought her hand across his face and took off down the hall.

Now extremely angry, Squall slammed his door then looked at Selphie.  His ice blue eyes washed over her, but with an emotion she could not decipher.  Loathing?  Sorrow?  Truth be told, she didn't want to know what that emotion was.  She felt bad enough as it was.  Without saying a word, he walked inside the bathroom, slamming that door as well.  Selphie shut her eyes as the sound echoed through his silent dorm.  Seconds later the sound of the shower broke the silence.

Feeling horrible for everything, the little SeeD fell into the bed, face-first and sobbed into the pillow.  She knew how pitiful she had to look, but continued to cry despite it.

A few minutes passed and Squall got out of the shower, this time fully clothed.  He glanced at her, but this time he provided no comfort.  It was apparent he was beyond angry.  He sat on the other side of the room, drying his hair with a towel. 

*          *          *

As Quistis was walking to her dormitory she noticed something that sidetracked her.  A very upset Rinoa had run into her own dorm, slamming the door behind her.  Sighing, Quistis shook her head and walked to the door.

"Rin let me in…" she said quietly.

Slowly the door opened and a red-faced Rinoa motioned for her to come in.

"So, what happened…?"

"Squall's been having an affair with Selphie!" Rinoa choked out.

Quistis looked at her confusedly, "Selphie has been gone for almost a week.  She transferred to Trabia…"

"Th-Then why was she in Squall's dorm!?"

"Maybe she's visiting!  Why must you always jump to conclusions without retaining information!?"

Rinoa narrowed her eyes and flipped a lock of her black hair over her shoulder.  "She was wearing _his_ clothes.  Not hers!"

The blond instructor raised her eyebrows.  There wasn't anything she could say about that.  Taking a deep breath she started over, "Squall would not cheat on you!  Let's face it, he doesn't have it in him!"

"Quistis!  How naïve are you!?  She was disheveled, in his dorm, wearing his clothes!"

Once again, Rinoa was starting to really get on Quistis' nerves.  Thinking back to their discussion about Zell, it was Quistis' turn to explode.  "What were _you _doing going to Squall's dorm in the first place?  Wasn't it to break up with him so you could hook up with Zell?"

Those words made Rinoa feel like someone stabbed her in the stomach and twisted the knife.  As much as she wanted to say, 'No!  It's because I was worried about him!  He _has _been sick…" She knew that it was a lie.  Her intention _was _to break up with him.

For the second time that day Rinoa felt her cheeks redden.

"That's what I thought…" Quistis stated as she stood back up.  "Well, I'll leave now.  I have to make tomorrow's lesson plans still.  Why don't you talk to Squall and sort things out?" With a small smile she let herself out.

After she heard her door click shut, Rinoa fell backwards into her bed.  "I can't…I can't talk to him.  Not after I blew up at him like that….  But there is someone I _can _talk to…" Picking herself up out of her heap, she left to look for Zell.

*          *          *

After Rinoa had left neither Squall nor Selphie spoke.  The silence between them was starting to drive her nuts.  The only sound in the entire room was the faint murmur of the television.  Suddenly someone began rapping at the door so loudly Selphie almost jumped out of her skin.

"_I'll _get it," Squall said coldly, making Selphie want to disappear.  He stood up and opened the door.  In stepped not two, but three girls, almost knocking Squall down.

"Selphie!!" Sae and Arisu yelled together and they ran forward to embrace her.

"How are ya feeling?" Arisu asked sounding concerned.

"I've been better…" she answered truthfully.

"Who is this!?" Squall asked angrily, pointing to the third girl.  "Didn't we agree not to tell anyone else!?"

"This is Renee," Sae introduced.  "We trust her."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," Renee smiled.  Squall still didn't look pleased.

"Hyne!  We just got here, what's your problem!?" Arisu exclaimed.

"Rinoa saw Selphie and thinks that we…we uh…well, you know…"

"Uh-oh…" All the girls looked at Selphie who was staring at her feet and turning bright red.

"How could she accuse…Selphie of all people!?" Sae fumed.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what did you gather from talking to Cid?" Squall asked, shutting the door.

"He thinks that she's staying at the Balamb Hotel.  Her file will be back here in about three more days." Arisu explained, reading off of some notes she had apparently taken.

"Yeah, so she needs to be there by Saturday…" Sae added in.

"I'll be taking her tonight." Squall said bluntly.

Renee looked appalled.  "Tonight!?  She'll be all alone for three days!"  Everyone began talking as if the young SeeD weren't sitting right there.

"I'm a SeeD too!  I could keep her in my dorm!" Renee offered.

Almost in tears, Selphie spoke up.  "It's alright!  I don't mind…really."  In reality, she just wanted to get away.  Those few days she spent in Squall's dorm, under his care, she found herself falling head over heels for him.  The problem with Rinoa may have only happened a few hours ago, but she couldn't handle his cold looks or any more of the silent treatment.

"Are you sure?" Arisu asked, looking worried.

Solemnly she nodded.  "We'll try to visit you after classes, alright?" Sae smiled.

"And I'll bring ya a survival kit with all sorts of sweets!" Renee added in, beaming.

Quickly she dried her eyes on the corner of his bed spread and looked up at the newcomer.  "S-So, who are you?"

"She's here to scare Irvine!" Arisu stated, smiling broadly.

"Well, actually…I didn't…"

"Oh, you should've seen it!  She gave old Piss Pants a run for his money!" Sae exclaimed, patting Renee's back.

"Piss Pants?" Selphie asked.  She had stood up and was typing her hardest to hide her grief.

"Oh man!  He we it right outside the cafeteria!"

"It was everywhere!"

Renee rubbed the back of her head and began blushing whereas Squall mumbled about missing it, thus worsening his mood.  Selphie softly giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You are my new best friend!" she laughed, shaking Renee's hand.  "So, why's he so scared of you?" 

"Well it all started wh-"

"Sorry to interrupt again, but can you talk about this another time?  You three better leave before you're spotted."

The girls looked at each other and nodded.

"Will you need any help getting her to Balamb?" Sae asked before leaving.  Squall merely shook his head and shut them out.  Still, he completely ignored Selphie as he started flipping through the channels.

Another painful hour passed when Squall finally stood back up.  Remaining silent he walked to the closet and began to rummage through his junk.  Looking forlorn, Selphie pried her eyes from the screen to watch him.  Once she decided he wasn't that interesting, she looked back at the television where Rachel and Ross were at each other's throats again.  Sighing, she came to the conclusion that she wasn't in the mood for 'Friends', and reached for the remote control.  Just as she was about to grasp it she was aware of something thrown at her that landed on her head.

"Put it on." It was the first thing that he said to her for several hours, but she was just happy to hear him talk.  Selphie reached up and pulled a black sweatshirt off of her head.  Before she could ask him why, he disappeared into the bathroom.

"Lose some weight, Squall…" she muttered as she poked her head through the collar.  "This thing is like a tent…" 

She hoped that her remark would lighten the situation but instead she received a cold, "Gain some weight, Selph…"

Her heart sank a little more, and she stayed silent while he continued to search his bathroom for something unknown.  Finally he stepped out and threw her a rubber band.  "Put your hair up."

Rolling her eyes, she obeyed.  When Selphie finished he walked to where she sat on his bed and bent down to where he could see her at eye level.  He put his hands around the back of her head and pulled the hood over her to where it shadowed her face.  For those few seconds she felt embarrassed for the puffiness of her eyes, and happy to be this close to Squall, even if he did hate her at the moment.

"I'm taking you to Balamb.  Keep your head down and your mouth shut."

Once again, she felt like disappearing.  She felt her face redden in shame as he unlocked his door.  They both walked out of the dorm without saying a word to each other.

"Hey Squall!" came a voice from behind.  Squall's shoulders tensed up but he continued to walk.  "Feelin' any better?" 

Zell ran around the front of them, forcing them to stop.  Selphie lowered her face even more so as not to be noticed.

"Yeah…" Squall said shortly.

"Who's that?" Zell asked, pointing to Selphie.

"My cousin.  I need to see him off at the Balamb Train Station." Then, grabbing Selphie's shoulder, he began to lead her away.

"But…you don't have any cousins…" Zell mumbled as he watched them leave.  Shrugging, he walked off in the opposite direction.

*          *          *

The Garden car was completely silent as it tore down the road.  Squall seemed determined to get to Balamb, and to get there fast.  Selphie looked out the passenger window.  It would be the perfect night.  The moon was bright, and it wasn't too hot.  Why did this day have to end so horribly?

She saw the lights from Balamb drawing ever near.  How long had they been driving?  It seemed like an eternity.  She estimated that they would be there any minute, but the silence was unbearable!  Making a bold move, she turned on the radio.  Instantly the car was full of the sound of hard rock.  Startled at the volume, Selphie covered her ears and Squall turned it back off.

The female SeeD slunk a little lower into her seat, blushing.  "Sorry…" she muttered.

Squall pried his eyes from the road for about five seconds to look at her.  That was the only response she got from him.

Finally the car parked outside the Balamb Hotel.  Selphie got out and started walking away from the car, fast.  She couldn't handle it anymore.

"Wait!" Squall called from within the car.

Her heart leapt into her throat and hot tears made their way down her cheeks.  Had he already forgiven her?  Was he going to apologize?  Trying to disguise her saddened face, she turned around and walked over to his rolled down window.  

"Yeah?" 

He pressed something into her empty hand.  "You'll need money," he stated monotonously.  He put the car in gear, then peeled out, leaving Selphie standing alone on the side of the road looking at the 1,000 gil note she held in her hand.

"Of course he wasn't going to apologize.  It's my fault anyways…" she said to herself.  Kicking at a rock, she made her way into the Hotel.

"Welcome!  It's 100 gil per night.  Will you be staying?" the woman at the front desk asked with her plastered on smile.

"Yeah, book me for three nights…"

"Name?"

"Selphie Tilmitt."

The woman scribbled some things down on a piece of paper, then looked back up.  "Do you need any help taking your luggage to your room?" 

Selphie looked down at the plastic bag she was carrying.  It had her trademark yellow dress and SeeD uniform.  Everything else was lost in that 'Al's Fish Transport' truck.  "I, I think I can manage by myself." She handed the woman her money.

"Alright.  You are in room 15A, here is your key card and your change." Selphie took them and walked up to her temporary room, where she fell asleep almost immediately.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

That's it for now!  I (Anna) have been doing some writing in my Biology class, so it should be done hopefully soon.  Thanks everyone for being patient with us!  Now, please leave us a review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A **Squalphie** Fan: **That is really cool!  We are just humble Americans…but one day we want to go to Japan.  That would be awesome.  We're saving up money to go on a trip there after we graduate our senior year.  ::Drops a few pennies into a jar that says 'Japan Trip Fund':: We aren't very good at earning money.

Taming the Lion: Chapter Four

Now back at Garden, the extremely angry Squall pulled the keys viciously from the Garden Car's ignition, stormed from the Parking Lot and headed toward the dormitories.  As he was nearing where it split into the boys' and girls' sections, he nearly ran head on into Quistis.  The instructor dropped all of the papers she had been carrying and exasperatedly collapsed onto the floor to start clearing them up.

"Sorry Quistis…" Squall mumbled as he bent down to help her.

"Where were you going in such a hurry?" she asked.

"My dorm.  Where else?" he said facetiously, then gathered the last of the papers into a pile and handed them to her.

"Is something the matter?" Then dropping her voice she continued, "I talked to Rinoa…"

"Oh, really?" he sneered.  "What did she say?  That I slept with Selphie!?" He stood up straight and stomped off into the boys' dorms.

"I never said that!!" Quistis yelled after him.  She listened for a response but all she got was the sound of a door slamming shut.  The sudden sound made her flinch.  Eyes now cold, she hugged the papers to her chest and started the walk to the 2F classroom.

"What's happened to us?" she whispered to herself, shaking her head.  In just a few days three of her best friends were torn from the person they thought they loved, and now it seemed everyone was fighting.  And it was always her, goody Quisty, that remained mutual.

Back in his dorm, Squall took of his black leather jacket and threw it on the floor.  Then, clenching his fists, he sat on his bed and turned on the radio.  Just as he was starting to relax someone knocked on the door.  Rolling his eyes, he got up and looked through the peephole.  He saw a dark brown cowboy hat and a flash of green eyes.  He knew who it was.

Sighing, he opened the door and stepped out.  "What do you want, Irvine?"

"You aint nuthin' but a damn hypocrite!" the cowboy yelled.  Squall looked at him confusedly, until he started talking again.  "You call _me _a two-timing jerk!!"

"Because you are," Squall said coolly without raising his voice.  "You cheated on Selphie with that stranger."

"Yeah, and you slept with Selphie while you were going out with Rinoa!"

"I did not!" he countered venomously.

"Oh yeah?  Then what happened!?"

"I-I…" Anxiously he started thinking of how he could respond.  No one was supposed to know that Selphie was back in Garden, except for her friends.  "I…was taking care of her…" he finished bluntly.

"Yeah, you took care of her alright," Irvine said, narrowing his eyes.

"That's _it!_" Squall roared.  Rage overtook him and without thinking he punched Irvine in the face.  The force of the blow knocked him back, and with a loud thud he hit the door across the hall from Squall's dorm.  The person who obviously inhabited it opened the door and looked around confusedly before his eyes eventually landed on the Irvine.  The cowboy's nose was bleeding, but with the back of his sleeve he wiped it and stood back up to face his opponent.  

The spectator watched as Irvine started running for Squall.  "Oh my Hyne!  FIGHT!" he announced very loudly.  Suddenly several doors opened up and a small crowd had gathered around the two rivals, chanting 'Fight!  Fight!  Fight!'.  

Nose still dripping blood, Irvine ran at Squall and punched his gut.  Squall felt the air escape him, and slightly dizzy for a split second.  But, recovered in time to get Irvine in a headlock.  

More people began making their ways from their dormitories to watch their commander duke it out.  

Now trapped, Irvine couldn't manage to get out of Squall's headlock.  Desperately he tried pulling down on his captor's arms, but didn't succeed in loosening the grasp.  Then, Squall began punching him repeatedly in the stomach.  

The next boy to come out of the dorms just so happened to be Nida.  Eyes wide with horror, he ran away from the fight to get help.

The chants of 'Fight!  Fight!' began turning into 'Squall!  Squall!'.  

"Squall!  What are you doing!?" Zell's voice yelled over all the commotion.  Squall looked up, his eyes looked cold and emotionless.  "Let him go!" the martial artist pleaded.  

Reluctantly, Squall let Irvine out of the headlock.  The cowboy lay on the ground, breathing hard and bleeding heavily out of his nose.  

"What's this all about?" the blond demanded.

"He pissed me off," Squall said through gritted teeth.

"You know, Squall…violence isn't the answer," Zell continued, sounding much like a parent.  "If you need to talk about anything, instead of beating the crap out of someone, I'm always available.  I know you don't like to talk about things, but that's what friends are for.  So if you need to talk…uh…didyousleepwithSelphie?" 

"What!?" Squall yelled angrily.

"Well, if you need to talk…I'm always here…" Zell smiled nervously, and started inching his way away.  Squall almost ran after him to punch him as well, when he felt his body hit the cold linoleum floor.  Irvine had recovered some of his strength, and had tackled Squall.  

The fist fight turned into a wrestling match, and only stopped when an agitated voice yelled, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"  Immediately, the two recognized the voice and Squall immediately shoved Irvine off of his back.  "What do you think you two are doing!?" 

Squall looked up to see Cid peering at him over his long nose.  "I would expect you to be more mature than this as Commander."  Cid continued to stare at them disappointedly.  Irvine now sported a black eye, bloody nose, and numerous bruised ribs.  Squall's lip was bleeding, and he was holding his shoulder.  

The Headmaster started making his way through the crowd of students.  "Everyone get back to your dorms, or you'll be spending detention cleaning up after the Grats!"  Slowly the crowd around the scene of the fight cleared up, and Cid walked to where to the two pitiful looking SeeDs sat.  "You two, follow me." 

Without giving each other so much as a glance, they followed Cid.  

"I can't believe either of you.  Especially you Squall.  You're supposed to be a role model for all students in this facility.  What if they decide 'Oh, since the Commander got in a fight, I guess it's okay that we do too…'?"

"Then they obviously can't think for themselves," Squall murmured under his breath.

"You've been acting very strange for the past couple of days.  Not showing up to work, getting in a fight…"

"I was sick…"

"But you were well enough to beat Irvine to bloody pulp?" 

"Hey!" Irvine shouted, "I stood my ground!  I got some hits in!"

"Oh?  Would you like a worse punishment then?" Cid asked.

Irvine looked wildly around, "I-I was the victim!  He just attacked me out of nowhere!"

"Psh…whatever." 

"You will both be disciplined for your actions, but first I'll have Kadowaki treat you." 

The rest of the walk to the Infirmary was silent.  Squall still held onto his left arm, it felt useless and the flow of blood from his lip was getting heavier and since he had nothing to wipe it with, it just trickled off his chin.  Irvine had covered his nose with one of his hands, and the other arm was wrapped around his chest.

When they had finally arrived to the Infirmary doors, Renee was walking out.  She seemed to be hiding something behind her, but whatever it was Squall couldn't tell because he got to witness Irvine lose his bladder control.

"What happened to ya?" she asked wide-eyed.

"Fight," they answered in unison.  Renee nodded, and still eying them suspiciously, walked away.

"Hyne, you're queer," Squall said to Irvine after Renee was out of sight.

"You don't understand.  You didn't see her in kindergarten!"

Before Squall could ask what happened, Kadowaki had seen their injuries.  "What happened!?"

"Fist fight.  Take care of their wounds and call me when they're doing better," Cid said as he bid the doctor goodbye.

"Again, Squall?" The SeeD Commander didn't say anything.  The last time he had been in the Infirmary was when he and Seifer had gotten into that fight.  "Okay, Squall to room 1, Irvine you go to room 2."  They did as they were told.  

"Mickayla!  Please take care of Mr. Kinneas!" Kadowaki called to a girl with long curly strawberry blond hair who was sitting behind the desk.  She nodded and walked into his room.  

Shaking her head, Kadowaki went into the room where Squall sat on the bed.

"So, how'd you get into this fight?" she asked as she pulled up a chair so that she could sit in front of him.

"I've had a bad day…"

"So that gives you the right to fight?"  This time he didn't answer, and instead looked away.  "What's wrong with your arm?"

"Oh, nothing at all…" he muttered sarcastically.  

Kadowaki rolled her eyes, "Look, I don't ask for much, but could you try to be at least a little pleasant?" Once again, he didn't answer.  "Now, let me look at it."

Reluctantly, Squall took his hand off of his shoulder.  "Can you move it at all?" He shook his head.  "Hmm…" she put on her glasses, and looked closely at his arm.  "It looks like you have a compound fracture, but it managed to stay inside the skin.  That's a good thing.  We'll have to set your bone though."  She got up from her seat.  "I'll get you some anesthesia so you don't feel anything."  

Squall looked at the mirror across the room, his lip was still bleeding badly.  Kadowaki returned with a towel, and a tank of the anesthetics.  "Lay back," she instructed.  He did as he was told.

Calmly, she put the anesthesia mask over his face.  "I want you to count back from one hundred aloud."

"One hundred, ninety-nine," he was starting to feel drowsy, "ninety-eigh…" his eyes slowly closed.  Kadowaki smiled, and put the towel over his face, and began the nerve-racking task of bone setting.

*          *          *

"Selphie!  Open the door!"

"We know you're awake!"

Selphie moaned, and pulled her pillow tight over her head.  She didn't want to leave the safety of the hotel room.  In there nothing could happen to her.  She had already ignored the maids' pleads of her to leave so that she could clean the room.  It was now midday and she hadn't even eaten.

"Open up!"  Still, she refused to budge.  

"We'll break down the door!" Sae yelled.

"But what if we have to pay for it?" Arisu asked.

"We won't, they'd never know it was us!"

"Haha!  Yes!" 

"Okay, on the count of three." They both back up a few feet, and assumed the position.  "One, two….three!"

Just as they were inches away from the door, in opened and Selphie stood there.  However, they couldn't stop, and instead took her down with them.  "Get off me!" Selphie yelled impatiently.

"Sorry," Arisu said looking at her feet.  "We just came to visit you like we promised."

"Where's Renee?" Selphie asked, noticing that only two of them had come.

"She said she had some business to take care of at Garden." 

"Oh…"

It was eerily silent, as Selphie went back to her bed.  "Come on Selph!  Let's go do something fun!  How much money do you have?" 

"Squall gave me 1,000 gil.  I only have seven hundred left."

"ONLY!?" Sae exclaimed.  "Let's go shopping!  You said that you don't have any clothes left because you left them all on that truck, so we'll buy you an entire wardrobe!"

"And since it's his money, it would be like _him _buying it for you!"

Selphie's lip started to tremble.  "I've ruined his life!  He probably hates me now, he probably never wants to see me again!" she said through her tears.

"Good one," Sae said.

"I didn't do it!" Arisu whispered.

"I'm sorry you guys have to see me this way.  Why don't you just go back, and do something useful with your time."

"That's it!" Sae yelled.

"Yeah!  We're sick of you being so depressing!  Let's just go have some fun, kay?"  

Selphie just looked at them.  She was still wearing the same clothes she had been the day before.  Squall's pants, shirt, and hoodie.  "I really don't want to go clothes shopping."

"Well, the least you can do is get those washed!" Sae laughed.

"But…they smell like him."

The friends smiled.  "Okay, will you at least get something to eat?"

"I'm not hun-"

"That's it!  WE'RE TAKING YOU BY FORCE!!" Arisu yelled and grabbed onto one of her arms, and Sae grabbed the other one.  With their combined strength, they were just able to drag her out of the room.

*           *           *

"Hey, doc…is he alright?  I heard he was brought here…" Zell was asking a rather tired looking Kadowaki.  

"He's sleeping now, the anesthetics are just now wearing off…" 

Zell beamed, "Can I wake him up?"

"No!  Okay…um…I'm going to pack my bags, go to Balamb and call you from there.  Then you can wake him," she said nervously.

"What happened?"

"His left arm is broken, the only casts we had were…pink."

"WHAT!?" Zell covered up his mouth in mock horror, and tried to hold back the laughter that was threatening to escape.  

"Yeah…I decided I might as well put it on him while he was still out of it…that way I wouldn't have to fight with him to get him to wear it."

"This is too great.  Oh, I wish I had a camera!" Zell snickered as he peeked into the room that Squall inhabited.  Sure enough he was sleeping, with a bright pink cast on.  "Okay, I won't wake him up.  But can I have a Sharpie marker?"  

Without thinking, she handed him a black permanent marker, and he disappeared into the room.  Trying as hard as he could not to laugh, he began writing random things on Squall's new cast.

'I love hotdogs…' he wrote in big capital letters, then signed it.  Next, just for laughs, he began drawing flowers, hearts and other feminine stuff all over it, thus making the already pink cast more girlie.  Then, he faced the most difficult task of all.  Waiting for Squall to wake up.

Zell was not a patient guy…

Before long it became painful for him to sit still.  He _had _to wake him up!  No!  He couldn't!  He'd just have to wait…waiting sucked…so he began pacing.  After the pacing, he started (as Seifer would call it) swatting flies, accidentally knocking over a lamp in the process.  Half hoping that this would wake Squall up, he glanced behind him, however the Commander was still fast asleep.  

"Damn!  I didn't do it!" he whispered loudly. Finally giving up all attempts to be patient, he bounded onto the foot of the bed and jumped.  "WAKE UP!!"  

Squall's eyelids slowly lifted and his eyes went in and out of focus.  "YAY!  HE'S ALIVE!!!" Zell leapt off of the bed.  "How ya feelin'?" he was within inches it seemed of Squall's face.  

The Commander sat up and held his head with his right hand.  "Fine…I guess." 

"Notice anything…different?" 

Still dazed from the anesthesia, he shook his head.  "Well, you aren't much fun." Zell concluded.  "Alright.  Let's get you back to your dorm, you've been taking up the infirmary bed for about two hours now."

As they were walking out of the Infirmary they heard some giggling coming from Irvine's room.  Curiously, Zell opened the door.  Irvine was lying on his bed without his shirt on and his chest was heavily bandaged.  The nurse was bright red, and giggling madly.

"So cutie, how long have you worked here?" 

"Oh, this is just sickening…" Zell muttered, but before he shut the door, Irvine noticed them both standing in the doorway.  His eyes scanned them before landing on Squall's cast, then he started laughing hysterically.  Zell turned around, looked at all of his beautiful artwork then laughed along with him.

"Oh!  It's so cute!" Mickayla chuckled.  Squall was still oblivious as to everything that was going.  Oh boy, Zell couldn't wait until he came to.

"What's so funny?" Kadowaki asked.  Zell turned around and beamed at her, that's when she noticed he wasn't alone.  "Oh Squall!  You're awake!" she exclaimed nervously.

"I was just taking him back to his dorm," Zell announced.

"Sorry, but he should stay here until the anesthetics wear off completely.  Besides, I still need to decide what I should do about his lip.  When he talks it starts bleeding all over again."

"How long do you think he'll be here then?" 

"Two or three more hours," Kadowaki sighed.  "If it's really that important to you then I'll sure you know when he's back in his dormitory.  Alright?" 

Zell nodded then he left the Infirmary, still laughing at the image of Squall.

"Come on, back to your room, Squall…" the doctor said as she ushered him back to the bed.  "Get as much rest as you can.  Cid's already started planning your detention…"

"Mmm…okay…" he said groggily, collapsing back into the white sheets.

*          *         *

"So…you really like him, huh?" Arisu asked as she tried for the millionth time to pick up her food with the chopsticks the restaurant had provided.  Selphie didn't answer, but instead turned red.  The answer was obvious.

"Everything has gone wrong though…"

"Don't blame yourself!" Sae reassured, "Rinoa was just upset.  She'll get over it eventually."

"I hate it when we fight…" Selphie said softly as she poked at her steamed rice.  "I just hate it when _anyone _fights."

"I don't blame you," Arisu smiled.  "But I guess that's the benefit of not being in Garden at the moment.  Something's always happening there!"  

Selphie lowered her head and appeared to look more upset.  "I still miss it.  I wish I could talk to Quisty…"

"Tell ya what, we'll tell her to visit you when she gets the chance.  She's been wanting to talk to you anyway," Sae offered happily.

"If it isn't too much trou-" the SeeD was interrupted by a ringing.  Sae and Arisu looked at each other.

"Is it me or you?" they asked simultaneously.   They then switched their gazes to their cell phones.

"It's me!" Arisu concluded.  "I'll be back in a second!"

"Alright.  Hurry or your food'll get cold!" Sae yelled after her.  The blond waved a hand over her shoulder as she walked off as if to say, 'okay'.

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver once she was in the bathroom.

"Hey, Arisu?" 

"Renee!?"

"Uh…yeah…"

"What's up?"

"You and Sae completely missed it!  The entire Garden is in an uproar!" she sounded very excited.  "What happened!?"

"Squall and Irvine had a fist fight!  It was in the boy's dorms, so I didn't exactly see it.  But I've heard the stories!"

Arisu gasped, "Oh my Hyne!  Are they okay?  Who won!?"

"Neither of 'em."

"Huh?"

"Cid stopped 'em b'fore a winner could be determined.  But according to the witnesses, Irvine didn't have much of a chance winning against Squall."

"Are they hurt?"

"Oh man!  I saw them go into the Infirmary.  It looked bad, but nothing too serious.

Arisu let out a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear.  But…what about Selphie?  She's upset enough as it is."

"You don't have to tell her, but she'll find out once she's back in Garden…"

"Okay, bye.  Oh!  Wait!

"Huh?"

"How did 'Operation Seifer' go?"

"I'm still working on it." Renee laughed, "You'll be able to see it once you're back."

"Sounds great!  Bye!"

"Bye!"

Arisu shook her head and turned her cell phone off.

"Who was it?" Sae asked once her counterpart had sat back down.

"Renee."

"What, what did she say?"

"Uhm…" Arisu bit her lower lip as she thought.  "Operation Seifer has been going according to plan!"

"That's great!" Selphie and Sae said together.  Selphie now seemed a little cheerful, and Arisu didn't want to do anything that would damage it.

*          *          *

Zell sat in a slump in his room.  Rinoa was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.  Zell, her new boyfriend, had described in detail the fight between Squall and Irvine.  Though she did feel a little guilty, she didn't admit it.

"But, ya know, Rin…I don't think he slept with Selphie…" the blond said slowly.  She looked up abruptly, her mouth agape.

"What makes you think he didn't?" she asked haughtily.

"What makes you think he did?" he replied softly.

Rinoa looked beyond angry after that remarked.  As a matter of fact, for a second it seemed as if her face would explode, but it went away and she took a deep breath.  "You're starting to sound a lot like Quistis…"

"Perhaps," he sighed.  "But Squall is my best friend, I've known him longer than most people.  He wouldn't say anything versus lying…" Rinoa's face remained stoic.  "Besides, Squall and Selphie would be the most unlikely couple imaginable!" he finished with a little chuckle.

Rinoa was searching for something to say that would benefit her, but the telephone rang interrupting her thoughts.  Zell put a finger to his mouth signaling Rinoa to be quiet, in case it was someone such as Cid. 

"Hello?" he said as casually as he could.

"Zell!" an old voice exclaimed from the other line.

"Mom!?"

At this, Rinoa had to do everything in her power to suppress her giggling.  Once again, Zell put a finger to his mouth.  "Uh…what's up?"

"I just called to let ya know that I've seen one of your little friends around town."

"Oh…that's nice."  _Little?  They're all at least seventeen!  She's making me sound like a child molester.  _

"What a sweet girl!  She dropped by to say hi to us earlier," mom continued.

"Do you know who it was?"

"Oh, what _was _her name?  Sami?  Snuffles…?  Oh, I can't think of it!"

Suddenly, he knew who she was talking about and before he could stop himself, he blurted, "Selphie!?"

"That's it!" his mom exclaimed, sounding happy.  Rinoa on the other hand looked appalled and on the verge of screaming.

"She seems so lonely, Zell.  Why don't you come visit her?"

"I…uh…can't…"

"Why not?"

"I'm _very _busy studying.  We have a BIG test on support magic in a few days," he lied.

"But, I thought you weren't taking support magic this semes-"

"You thought wrong, ma.  I have to go now.  I'm behind in studying.  Bye!" As quickly as he could, he slammed the phone down.

"So, what's this about Selphie?" Rinoa asked, trying to stay calm.

"She's been hanging around Balamb, I guess."  Still the brunette looked at him doubtfully.  "Look, you can choose to believe me or not, but I'm not having an affair with her!" he said angrily.

For a second, they both stared at each other, then her eyes softened and she sighed, "I'm sorry."

Zell shrugged his shoulders, "It's alright.  Just don't jump to conclusions next time."

"Yes, Instructor Trepe," she said and stuck her tongue out.  Zell laughed and tickled her.

"Don't stick your tongue out at me again," he winked.

*          *          *

"KADOWAKI!  WE NEED BACKUP!" the assistant cried from within one of the recovery rooms.  The sudden shriek surprised the doctor and she spilled her hot coffee down the front of her white lab coat.  She jumped up out of her seat and held the steaming hot fabric away from her skin.

"Yes, Mickayla?  What is it?" she asked as she did her best to wipe the hot liquid off with a towel.

"It's Squall!  The anesthesia has worn off!"

Kadowaki's eyes got huge and she scrambled into his room.  He was pacing, and looked infuriated.  Under his breath, she could make out, "I'm gonna kill Irvine…"

"Squall calm down!" she said, desperately holding him back.  His cold eyes turned toward her, then she realized that she wasn't very high on his list of people he liked at the moment.  After all, it had been her that actually put the pink cast on him.  No matter how much both she and Mickayla struggled to keep him back, he made it into Irvine's room without much difficulty.

"Prepare to die, Kinneas!" he yelled angrily.

Irvine, who had been sleeping at this time, opened a single eye to look at his attacker.  "Finally all there?  Do you like your new pink cast?" he sniggered.

"This pink cast is going to beat the hell out of you!" Squall roared, and then ran forward.  Kadowaki gasped and lunged forward as well, but wasn't able to grab Squall.  Instead, she crashed to the ground with an unmistakable thud.  Eagerly, Mickayla helped her up.

"Take…that…you…prick!" the Commander yelled as he beat Irvine over the head with his cast.  

"Squall!  Stop it!" Kadowaki yelled.  However, he continued to beat the cowboy senseless.  The doctor was running out of options, she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to pull them apart, especially while Squall's adrenaline was pumping.  So, she pulled out a syringe filled with a tranquilizer from her lab coat and managed to inject it into Squall's right shoulder.

The shock of actually being stabbed with a needle alone made Squall stop hitting Irvine, but it took a while for the tranquilizer to actually kick in and he collapsed.  Sighing, Kadowaki shook her head.  The Commander lay in a heap on the floor, looking quite pitiful.  Mickayla had automatically run to Irvine, who was once again, bleeding from his nose.

            "I'm going to need help carrying him back to his room…" Kadowaki said as she looked at him.  Because of all his yelling, his lip had begun bleeding.  "Mickayla, help me carry him, and help me find something that will cover the cut on his lip."

            Momentarily, the assistant looked upset about leaving Irvine, but did help the doctor.  Kadowaki carried him by the shoulders, and Mickayla held on to his feet as they transported him from Irvine's room into his own bed.  Mickayla wiped her brow, and then walked to the other side of the room. "How long will it take for the tranquilizer to wear off?" she sighed as she rummaged through some drawers, looking for some sort of bandage.

"I'd say at least an hour," the doctor said slowly.  "If he keeps this behavior up, he won't have to serve detention tonight… Cid will think of a worse punishment."

The redhead sighed and walked back to the bed, handing Kadowaki a small butterfly bandage.  "Will this work?" The older woman nodded and applied the bandage to his lip.  

"That should help," she said, then stood up and walked to her desk.

"Um…what about Mr. Kinneas' nosebleed?" Mickayla inquired.

"It's just a nosebleed, it'll stop on its own.  If you'd like, you can give him a towel to absorb some of the blood in."

Mickayla nodded and headed back to his recovery room.  Kadowaki on the other hand picked up the phone and dialed Cid's number.  "Cid?  Yes, this is Dr. Kadowaki.  I was calling to inform you that Commander Leonhart will not be able to serve his detention tonight.  Irvine on the other hand is fine and ready to be released at anytime."

"Oh.  What's the damage?" the Headmaster asked.

"Squall has a cut lip and a broken arm, Irvine has quite a few broken ribs and a bloody nose.  So, don't be too harsh on them as far as punishment goes."

"That's unfortunate…" Cid admitted.

"Yes, Squall's arm shouldn't be too much of a burden, but Irvine's ribs will be sore for quite some time…"

"I understand.  I'll send a representative from the disciplinary committee over to pick Irvine up as soon as I get the chance."

"Okay, I'll have him ready to leave then.  Bye."

"Bye."

Dr. Kadowaki began tapping her lip in thought.  Seifer was the only disciplinary committee member left, and he would be absolutely merciless.  She wondered whether or not he deserved that kind of punishment.  But then again, she trusted Cid's decision and would not go against orders.

She stood and walked through the doorway into Irvine's room.  Once again, Mickayla was giggling as the cowboy flirted continuously.  "Alright Mr. Kinneas, get up.  Time for you to do your time."

"What?  B-But…I'm still injured…"

"You'll live.  You aren't hurt that badly, if you were then I wouldn't allow him to take you, now would I?" 

Irvine continued to stutter and argue, but it was all in vain.  Before long, he was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Kadowaki's desk, waiting for whoever was supposed to get him to get there.  Time seemed to slow down tremendously.  Finally, he heard someone approach.  He looked up to see a swish of gray, and a scarred face peering down at him evilly.

"Ooohhh…aren't we going to have _fun_," Seifer smiled deviously.  Irvine's eyes grew to at least twice their original size as Seifer lifted him up from his seat by his collar and dragged him from the Infirmary.  Kadowaki watched them go, hoping that Seifer wouldn't give him _too _hard of a time.  

*          *          *

Tiredly, Selphie sat on a street curb.  She had long since run out of things to do around the town.  She had been to the Dincht's house to visit and that lasted a few hours.  Then, she had gone to every shop in the city, just to browse.  She even talked to the storeowners.  At this point, she was so bored, she was contemplating whether or not she should leave the town to train.

"Bleh!  Why would I _want _to train?  I've never wanted to before," she said to herself.  Absentmindedly, she picked up a rock and threw it down an alley.  It ricocheted off of a trashcan and she heard the automatic cry of a cat.  Hugging her legs to her chest, she began drawing in the dirt with a stick.  

"I only have one more day I have to be here…" she said to herself optimistically.  "Then I get to go back to Garden…where I'll eventually have to confront Squall again." Selphie sighed and threw the stick down.  "It's so pathetic.  I've started talking to myself.  Wonder what the locals think of me…"

In response to this, she saw a woman walk past her, with a look of worry on her face.  At this, Selphie couldn't help but smile.  Wearily, she got up, "I should probably go back to the hotel.  I have nothing else to do here.  Maybe there's something on television…" she thought out loud to herself.  

As she walked, she heard a man yell, "Get out of here ya flea-bitten mutt!  We don't need ya in here slobberin' all over our meat!" She turned just in time to see a round man chase a dirty yellow dog out of the back of his butcher shop.  The dog had its tail between its legs, and its ears were low as it ran from the shop.  The man shook his fist at the dog a few more times, swearing loudly before slamming the door shut.

The dog stared longingly at the door for a few moments before walking off in the same direction as Selphie.  The tiny brunette bent down and scratched his ears.  "Ooh, you poor thing.  Are you messing things up for other people too?" The dog looked back at her, his eyes full of the same sadness as hers had been.  "You know what, you're going to come with me and keep me company."

At this, the dog seemed to brighten up, almost as if he understood her.  He began wagging his tail, happily.  "All I have to do is find a way to sneak you in to the hotel," she pondered.  But how will I do that?" 

The dog panted excitedly, and sat down next to her leg.  " I have it!" she snapped her finger.  "Follow me, boy!"

They both ran down the streets of Balamb until she was finally in front of the Dincht's house again.  Politely, she knocked on the door.  Mrs. Dincht slowly opened the door, when she saw it was Selphie she opened it all the way and exclaimed, "Sophie!  So glad to see you again, dear!"

"Um…it's Selphie…" she smiled weakly as the woman brought her into a tight embrace.  When she finally released her, Selphie was struggling for her breath.  "Sorry to intrude on you, but I was hoping you could lend me a hand."

"Sure thing, hun.  What do you need?" 

"Can I borrow a suitcase?  A REALLY big one?  I'll bring it back as soon as I can!" 

Looking slightly confused as to why she needed a suitcase, Mrs. Dincht nodded and stepped away from the door.  "Come on in while I get it."

Selphie looked behind her at her new companion sitting on the step.  "That's alright, I'm fine where I am."  She didn't want to leave him out there all alone.  It wasn't long before Zell's mom returned with a gigantic suitcase.  Quickly, Selphie compared the suitcase's size to the size of the dog and estimated that the dog could most likely fit in there, though not very comfortably.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Dincht!" she bowed deeply and walked back to the street.  "Oh, and if you talk to Zell before I do, tell him I said hi!" The woman waved goodbye as she watched Selphie run down the street with the suitcase and the mangy dog following behind.

When they were outside the Balamb hotel, she unzipped the suitcase and patted the inside, motioning the dog to get into it.  The dog did as it was signaled, "Okay…um…lay!" much to her surprise, the dog obeyed.   Beaming, she knelt down so that she was at eye level.  "And be as quiet as possible!"  Hurriedly, she zipped the suitcase back up and started to try and carry it inside.

"Do you need help with you luggage miss?" the woman at the counter asked.  

"Yes!  That would be great!" 

A bellhop stepped forward and took the suitcase from Selphie.  As they were walking up the stairs to her room, he asked, "What do you have in here?  It weighs a ton!" 

"Um…" she desperately racked her mind for anything heavy, "Rocks!"

"Rocks?  Why rocks?"

"Um…souvenirs from my trip to Balamb?" 

"I'm sure you could have found something much…lighter…and more interesting than rocks."

"Nah!" she said shaking her head.  

Finally they reached her room and the bellhop dropped the suitcase and a yelp came from within.  _Crap!  We'll be caught for sure!  _Selphie thought.  

"What was that!?" the man asked, looking suspiciously at the baggage.  

"Um…I have a rubber duckie in there too." 

"Wh-?" But before he could say much more, she pressed a ten gil note into his palm.

"Thanks for your help!" she said happily.  When the money touched his hand he seemed to have forgotten the fact that her suitcase was making suspicious noises and skipped merrily down the stairs.  Once she was certain that he was out of hearing range, she unlocked the door and dragged, more than carried, the suitcase in.  Quietly, she shut the door and unzipped the suitcase.  

Immediately the dog leapt out and started running around wildly.  "Shh!  Quiet!" Selphie whispered harshly as she sat down on the bed.  The dog walked over to where she sat and sat down in front of her, panting and wagging his tail.  "Oh, you're so sweet!" she squealed.  She bent forward and hugged the dog, then she became aware of just exactly how dirty he was.

"Wow!  You _smell_!" the SeeD said, plugging her nose.  "You need a bath!"  Now feeling happier about her current situation, Selphie stood up and opened the bathroom door.  The dog ran in, unaware of what the tiny girl had planned.

*          *          *

Irvine followed sulkily behind Seifer, feeling like a convict walking down death row to be executed.  He had no idea what Seifer had planned for him, and he was too afraid to ask.  Hell, he was too afraid to _think _of all the things that his elder could put him through.  

It wasn't long before the two reached their destination.  It was the Training Center.  _That's a relief, _Irvine innerly sighed, _if it's just training then it shouldn't be too bad.  _He looked around to examine the present situation.  There were four other kids there for detention as well; all of them were junior classmen though.  Irvine was the only SeeD.

"Alright, I brought our target holder!" Seifer yelled.  

"What!?" Irvine yelled.

"These kids are in detention, they're punishment is that they have to practice their aim with magic."

"What kind of magic, because if it's support magic then…"

"Oh no, it's not support magic," Seifer smiled.  Irvine stared back at him, his mouth agape in pure horror.  Still smiling wickedly, Seifer shoved the target into the cowboy's stomach and motioned for him to back up.  "Okay.  Which one of you is going first?" he asked the group of friends.

Each and every one of the kids exchanged anxious glances.  It was apparent none of them wanted to go.  "Okay, fine.  You," Seifer pointed to a short girl wearing a pink bandana, "You can go first." 

Looking very timid, she glanced up at her tall superior.  "I don't have any magic junctioned…" she admitted.

"I'll supply you with magic," he said to her, and then looking to the rest of them he stated, "Fire is one of the most basic forms of magic.  You will be practicing with this spell tonight."

All the color seemed to drain from Irvine's face and he dropped the target, which landed precisely on his toe.  "You might want to hold onto that," Seifer laughed, "Otherwise you definitely will be hit by a spell."

"Damn, I should have junctioned magic today.  I didn't think I'd need it!" Irvine mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Did you hear that kids?" Seifer cooed, "Let this be a lesson for everyone.  You never know when you will need your magic, therefore you should always have support magic junctioned, as well as defensive magic."

The cowboy scowled at his rival and picked the target back up.  The little girl stepped up to a line that had been made with red tape and grimaced as she concentrated.  "Um…just a warning, sir; I have really bad aim."

Seifer smiled again, this would be a _very _fun night.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *           *

Guess what everyone?  WE'RE FINALLY FINISHED WITH THIS CHAPTER!  YAY!  And we thought it couldn't be done!  But, ah!  Nonetheless, we managed it.  ^o^  So, hopefully you are just as happy as we are.   The next chapter should be up soon.  (We don't mean soon as in immediate, if you've noticed we aren't very fast at updating ^o^;;) But it shouldn't take us as long as it took us to post this chapter.  

P.S. Keep in mind that this isn't the only other story we're working on!  We try to rotate between stories to work with!  

And if there were spelling or grammar errors, we apologize.  We couldn't remember if we fixed them all or not.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kia-Kawaii Princess**:  ::Sigh:: Squelphies…aren't they great?  ^o^  It's only a shame that there aren't many of them.  I  (Anna) can't find _one _Squall/Selphie lime out there.  (If anyone writes one, let me know!)

**Zariel and Karla3: **Thanks for the compliments on our original  characters.  ^o^  And we're glad that you enjoy the story so much (we definitely enjoy writing it!!)

**Micky-chan: **Believe it or not, this story is done on little to no sugar influence!  Hah!  

**XxMazLeonhartxX:  **Yeah, we're happy Squall kicked Irvine's ass too.  We hate Irvine!  (Sorry all you Irvine fans out there, we just _really _dislike him, this will be even more apparent in future chapters…)  

**A/N: **Hello everyone, we're back.  And let us warn you…heh…the chapters for this story tend to be really loooong.  .   But, we blame it on the fact that this story is our baby and we love to write in it and when we start we don't want to stop.  ::Takes a huge breath::  Just a warning!  Rating may go up in future chapters (we have a chapter planned somewhere in the near future where things get a little darker) but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  As for now, just read and enjoy!  And we're sorry it took a while to update.  

Taming the Lion: Chapter Five

Just as Sae and Arisu were coming out of class, they were pulled out to the side by Renee.  "Guys!  I have it figured out!"

"Jeez, Renee!  You scared me to death!" Sae exclaimed, clutching her heart.

"Don't do that again!" Arisu laughed.

"Sorry!  But I _had _to tell you!" she continued excitedly.

"Okay!  Okay!  What do you have figured out?" Sae asked.

"Operation Seifer!"

Both girls 'ooh'ed' and smiled wide.  "So?  Whatcha gonna do?"

"Yeah!  What _is _the plan?"

"Okay!  It's as simple as this!  A simple three-step process!" She counted off on her fingers as she listed the steps.  "I run into Seifer, I mortally wound Seifer, then I nurse him back to health!" she beamed.

Arisu laughed nervously, "Sorry, Renee.  I don't see how mortally wounding him would cause him to fall in love with you."

"Good point…" she rubbed her chin in thought.  "I know!" she exclaimed, hitting Sae on the arm.

"That hurt!  What did you have for breakfast!?"

Renee smiled deviously and did not answer.  Instead she went on with her plan.  "How 'bout _you _two mortally wound him?"

"What?" the two asked in unison.

"Yes!  That's perfect!  It's okay for him to hate you two, right?"

"Umm…" Sae started slowly, "We're about a foot shorter than him.  It's hard for us to look threatening."

"Stand on each other's shoulders!  I can get you a cloak-!"

"He's in our weight training class!" Arisu interrupted, "_And _he already has nicknames for us!"

"Yeah, Weak and Weaker."

"You two have weight training?"

"Not by choice!"

"Yeah, Cid just put us in there!"

Renee laughed, "I couldn't imagine either of you lifting weights!"

"A few weeks ago we probably wouldn't have either."

"It's awful!  We're the only girls!" Sae complained loudly.

"Who else has it with you?" Renee mused.

"Squall, Zell, Nida, Seifer, Joey and Rudy," Arisu listed off.

"That's too much!" Renee giggled.

"Can't you find someone else to 'mortally wound' hi-,"

"Oh my Hyne!  He's coming!  Go, go, go!"

"What about the cloak so we can stand on each other's shoulders?"

"Too late!  Hurry!"  Without saying anything else, she pushed both girls in the middle of the hallway and ducked behind a trashcan to watch.

"Hey ladies," he smirked, "You sure seem eager to see me."

"Uh…h-h-hey S-Seifer…"

"Uh…M-Mr. Almassy!" Arisu added on, hoping to keep him happy.  It was silent between the three of them, both girls were extremely uncomfortable and Seifer was just clueless as to what was happening.

"Is there a reason for this meeting?  By all means, I don't mind being late for class; I am every day anyway.  But is there any particular reason as to why you just popped out of nowhere?"

"Err, well…you see…a little birdie told us-,"

"Actually…it wasn't a bird-,"

"Shhh!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Look you two…I think I'll just be going-,"

"NO!" both girls shrieked together, they jumped forward and each grabbed one of his arms.

"What!?" he was starting to get impatient.

"Will you please just come quietly?" Sae begged.

"Yeah, we really don't want to hurt you…"

From behind the trashcan, Renee slammed her hand to her forehead.  "They're butchering the plan!" she mumbled, too quietly for anyone to hear.

"What?  You two weaklings try to hurt me?" he laughed merrily.  "You can't bench the bar in weight training without help!"  He probably would be rolling in his laughter if it weren't for the fact he was standing in the middle of the second floor hallway.  Sae and Arisu couldn't help themselves and laughed as well.

"So much for looking threatening!" Sae shouted between gasps for breath.

"You're the one who made it sound like some cheesy cop show!  You might as well have said, 'stick 'em up!'!" 

"I'm going to class," Seifer concluded when he finally regained his composure.

"NO!!" 

"Okay!  What's the deal!?"

They knew they were standing on thin ice now.  Simultaneously they glanced at each other and back to him.  Arisu took a deep breath and then she began her speech.  "Well you see…it all started when it was brought to our attention that a certain someone, codename 'birdie' revealed in secret her notorious plan.  Since our body structure obviously won't be enough to take down a victim of your si-,"

"In English please!" Seifer interrupted.

Once again, the two SeeDs exchanged glances.  "We're having a party tonight, wanna come?" Sae asked.

"For what?"

"Selphie returning to Garden!  And since you're on the Disciplinary Committee, do you think you could pull some strings so that we can make it a boy/girl party?"

"Maybe, that all depends on who's coming," he said with pride.

"Err…well…we're going to be there!  So is Selphie, Quistis, and Renee…"

"Renee…is she the one you two were walking around with a few days ago?"

"Yup!"

"Heh, she was pretty cute."

From behind the garbage can, Renee was blushing like crazy.  Upon hearing him say that, she also hit her head on the wall.  So what if they didn't follow the plan _exactly, _it was still working!

"What was that?" Seifer asked when he heard the thump.

"It wasn't me!" Sae declared.

The blond teenager just rolled his eyes.  "Am I the only guy coming to this party?" he asked, changing the subject back to the party.

"As of now…yes…"

"But you're welcome to invite a friend!"

"The more the merrier!"

"Okay, I'll get the details from you two in weight training.  Can I go to class now?"

"NO!!"

Now he looked as if he was getting ready to pummel them.  "We're just kidding!  Goodness!  You don't have to be so mean!" Arisu laughed.

Once again he rolled his eyes and walked into his classroom.  After she was sure he was gone, Renee jumped out from behind the trashcan again.

"You two are the greatest!" she exclaimed hugging them.  "Now, you have him coming to the party.  Perhaps we could ambush him there…"

Sae and Arisu looked at each other, trying to suppress a giggle.  "Sure," they said together.

Quistis tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and continued to concentrate on the road.  The last few days had been _very _hectic.  It was a good thing that Cid gave her the day off.  She needed to pick Selphie up, and spending a day with her normally cheered the instructor up.

_I hope she isn't still depressed, _Quistis thought solemnly, _I hate seeing her like that!  _These thoughts mixed with the soft rock playing on the Garden car's radio interrupted her train of thought and almost caused her to miss the turn to into Balamb.  Tires screeched as she took the corner faster than she intended.  "I hope no one saw that…" she mumbled.

Nonchalantly she searched all of the bystanders.  She saw no one she knew.  Sighing, she parked the car in front of the Balamb Hotel, stepped out, and looked skyward.  The sun warmed her cheeks and caused her to smile.

"This is going to be a good day," she concluded, taking her sunglasses off.  Before walking into the lobby, she reached back inside the vehicle to grab her purse then shut the heavy car door.  A man cat-called her as she neared the door.  Though she knew she could easily beat him to a bloody pulp, she chose to ignore him.

"How may I help you?" the woman behind the desk asked.

"I'm looking for a Selphie Tilmitt."

"I am sorry, we're not supposed to give out our guests' personal information," the woman said with a fake smile.

Quistis rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the counter, "I am a SeeD from Balamb Garden.  So is Ms. Tilmitt.  If you do not believe she is expecting me, then you may call and ask for yourself."

The woman's blue eyes widened in fear, "Y-Yes ma'am.  I'll see what I can do!"  As quickly as she possibly could, she began typing into the computer in front of her.  "Room 15A!  Do you need someone to show you?"

"I'll manage," she said bitterly, then walked off.  She was very familiar with the Balamb Hotel because of all the times she stayed there.  Selphie's room was on the second floor and not too far of a walk.

Finally she stood in front of the room.  "Selphie?  Are you awake?"

"Yeah…"

"Good, it's passed three o'clock.  I would be worried if you weren't!"

"Yeah, hold on Quisty.  I'll be there in a sec."

Quistis could hear her scramble around within her room.  Apparently she had started packing early because it wasn't long before she opened the door.  The hotel room was a wreck, but she managed to get all of her belongings into a single suitcase.  She was wearing clothes that were way too big for her, but the instructor knew why.  Sae and Arisu informed her that Selphie refused to change out of Squall's clothes.  Quistis found it very cute, in a way, but in another kind of gross.

All in all, the small SeeD seemed to be doing a lot better.  Her chestnut hair was curled out at the ends  and her bright green eyes shone to enhance her wide smile.  "Hey Quisty!  I missed ya!" she exclaimed, hugging her friend.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better!" the blond smiled.  "So, you ready to get back to Garden?"

"Yeah!" she yelled, raising a fist into the air.

"Okay, let's check you out of here!"

Selphie nodded and began dragging her gigantic suitcase down the hall.  "Need any help?" Quistis laughed as she watched Selphie struggle.

"Naw…I'm good…." she grunted.  When she reached the staircase she began to lug the big suitcase down it.  When it hit each stair, a yelp came from within the bag.

Quistis watched her uncomfortably, "Uh…Selph…there isn't anything _living _in there, is there?" she asked.

For a split second, Selphie appeared to think, but she replied quickly, "Nope!  Just Rocks!" 

Not knowing exactly what to think, the instructor just rolled her eyes.  "All right, put that in the Garden Car and I'll see if I can check you out."  Selphie nodded and threw the blond the keys to her room and continued to drag the suitcase out of the lobby doors.

The car was already unlocked, so the petite girl just opened the trunk and with much difficulty, started to lift her luggage.

A bellhop noticed her struggle and laughed.  "Do you need any help, miss?" 

"That would be great!"

With a grunt, he heaved the suitcase into the trunk.  "You must be a heavy packer," he said, wiping his hands together.

"I guess you can say that…" she put a finger to her lip.

"Say, you're pretty cute," he smiled.  "Are you seeing anyone?"

Selphie looked very uncomfortable, "Well…" she started.  Silently, she hoped that Quistis would walk out and save her.  She had always been more aggressive than her.  "Sort of…" she said slowly, hoping he would leave her alone.

"What do ya mean?  Are you or are you not?" 

"Um…you see…it's kinda difficult…"

"She's seeing the Commander of Balamb Garden," a harsh, feminine voice interrupted.  _Just in time! _Selphie felt as if someone lifted a weight off of her chest.

"Oh, I see," the bellhop said, looking at the floor.  "Do you need help with anything else?" 

"No, we can manage," Quistis said coldly.

"All right then, have a safe trip home," he said bowing slightly.

Once he was gone, Quistis slammed the trunk down.  "The nerve of him!" she fumed.  "You don't have to put up with that, you know?  If you would've just told him you had a boyfriend he would have left you alone," she had calmed down and her voice was more soft and motherly.

"But that's a lie," Selphie mumbled.  Her eyes stung as tears threatened to flow.  Sniffling, she shook her head to clear her mind.  "But me going out with Squall?  That's a good one."

Quistis could see her hurt and touched her shoulder, "Anything is possible.  And _that _is more possible than you think," she smiled.

Selphie shrugged off Quistis' hand and opened the door to the passenger's side.  It was silent as the instructor started the engine and drove out of the little town.

"So, what all happened in Balamb?  Anything exciting?" Quistis asked to break the silence.  Selphie didn't respond, her mind was in a completely different place.  While Quisty made small talk, Selphie was thinking about her dog and whether or not he had enough oxygen in that cramped up space.

"So, then I said to him-,"

"Hey, Quisty?  What's the Garden's policy on dogs?  Since you have the handbook memorized and all…"

"You weren't listening, were you?" she laughed, "And I believe that was the most random question ever."

"I was just curious…"

Quistis pushed her sunglasses further up on to the bridge of her nose, "The Garden Code, page twenty-eight, paragraph two, line six: All domestic pets are not to be permitted in the Garden, or the Garden's related facilities unless authorized by the current Headmaster/Headmistress," she quoted easily.

"Okay, so as long as Cid says it's okay…" she whispered to herself, then she looked back over to the blond woman who was driving.  "Alrighty then!  What's _your _policy on dogs in your car?"

Now, Quistis was very confused.  "Well, this really isn't _my _car…so I guess it's okay…"

"Good!  PULL OVER!!" Selphie yelled, jerking the steering wheel to the side of the road.  Once Quistis regained control of the car, she successfully pulled off of the freeway.  As soon as the car stopped, Selphie had gotten out and went around the back of the car. 

"What the hell has gotten into you?" the instructor asked, rubbing her temples.  That gave her quite the scare.

Before long, Selphie opened the back door and something leapt into the car.  "Oh Hyne, Selph!" Quistis had put two and two together, and to prove her conclusion, there was a shaggy golden retriever sitting in the back seat.

"Quisty, I'd like you to meet Rocks."  The dog wagged his tail.

"Rocks, eh?" the blond laughed.

"Yeah, he helped me in Balamb.  He really cheered me up!"

Quistis couldn't help but smile.  "Well, it seems as if we're going to get to smell him for the next twenty minutes in this cramped car."

"I gave him a bath last night!"

"It didn't work.  I don't think that little pine tree is going to hold out against _that _odor," Quistis laughed and pointed her head toward a scented pine tree that hung on the rearview mirror.

The two girls laughed and joked around, but once they ran out of things to talk about, it was quiet again.  Selphie wanted to start up a conversation again, and there was one question that had been nagging at her.  "So, um…how's Squall?"

"Well, where to start?" Quistis took a breath and leaned over the steering wheel as she thought.  "He got in a fight…with Irvine."

All of the color drained from her face.  "Oh my Hyne.  It's my fault, isn't it?"

"No, Irvine was asking for it.  But they both got detentions though."

"Were they hurt?"

Quistis pretended not to hear and continued.  "Irvine had to hold targets for junior classmen who were learning how to use basic magic spells.  His hair is singed!" 

"Why?  What happened?"

"You see, Seifer was supervising the whole thing and was also supplying the junior classmen with the spells they were using.  They were supposed to use the basic fire spell.  Somehow, Seifer 'accidentally' slipped in a few firagas into the mix of spells, even an ultima!"  They both laughed together.  "He isn't seriously hurt, but you have to admit…it's pretty funny."

"Quisty!" Selphie scolded, "You're an instructor, you shouldn't encourage these kinds of acts."

"I didn't encourage them.  I just find them funny, in a sadistic sort of way," she laughed.

"What about Squall?" Selphie asked, changing the subject.

"In a way, his punishment is worse, but that's only because he has to serve it longer.  The Garden technician is sick, so Squall has to take over his job until he's better."

"But he's not hurt, right?" No response.  "Right, Quisty!?"

"Hyne, Sefie!  He was in a fight!  He's got a cut lip and a broken arm.  There's nothing you can do about it!"

Selphie gasped.  "How'd he break his arm?"

"He hit it against the floor, hard."

"Is he still…you know…?"

"What?"

"Is he still…does he still…hate me?"

"He never hated you.  He was just upset.  Anyone can act rash when they're that upset."

Selphie looked at the dashboard as if it were extremely interesting.  There was one last question she wanted to ask, but she was afraid of the answer.  "Did he and Rinoa make up?"

"No.  She's dating Zell now.  It looks like the fairy tale romance between the lion and the angel is over."  Now, Selphie felt as if someone had taken her heart and replaced it with a lead weight.  She felt it drop from its place in her ribs to her gut.  "But!" Quistis added with a smile, "I know that there's another angel out there, who may be able to tame the lion.  _And _she will be able to fill a space that her predecessor could not," she winked.

Selphie blushed and slunk lower into her seat.  She wanted to be that so-called 'angel', but didn't think it would happen.  "I hope she comes along soon, I hate seeing him so upset."

"Hey, Leonhart…" Seifer said.  Squall looked up from the heavy barbell he was exercising his uninjured arm with.

"Hmm?"

"Selphie is coming back tonight."

"So?"

"Her friends are planning a surprise welcome back party for her.  Are you gonna come?"

The commander sighed and placed the weight back on its rack.  "Probably not."

"How come?  For scarin' her off like that, you at least owe her an apology!"

"For scaring her off like that, the least I could do is stay away.  She probably hates me…"

"Christ Leonhart, Ms. Sunshine hating _anyone _would be a sure sign of the apocalypse and I think that's highly unlikely.  Besides, I'm going to be the only guy if you don't come, and there's no way in hell I'm inviting pisspants."

"What about Zell?" Squall asked, looking over at the martial artist.  He was pummeling a punching bag; his face was creased with concentration.

"Where the hell have you been Leonhart?  Rinoa has the chickenwuss wrapped so tightly around her finger, even making eye contact with Selphie she considers a sin."

As Squall opened his mouth to give in and consent, they heard two very loud grunts come from somewhere behind them.  Shortly after, there were two earsplitting shrieks and a flying barbell.  It missed both Squall and Seifer, but hit the unfortunate Nida in the back of the head.

Squall looked back over his shoulder very cautiously in case any more heavy objects came flying his way.  When he had fully turned around, he saw Sae and Arisu standing completely still in fear.  Obviously, they were the ones at fault seeing as both of them were stuck in a position that suggested such.  The two girls looked from each other, to their accidental victim, then to the witnesses and back to each other.  The room was completely silent.

Seifer stood up from his place next to Nida to make sure that he was still alive.  He followed Squall's gaze to Weak and Weaker; the two he had least expected to ever even be _able _to inflict bodily harm, to see them both looking as if they were ready to run at any second.  To their surprise though, it looked like Seifer was crying.  Arisu looked at Sae attentively and they telepathically agreed to investigate.

As they neared him they noticed he was also shaking.  Arisu poked him, "Are you okay, Seifer?  We didn't hit you too, did we?  We thought we only got Nida, um…accidentally of course."

"Yeah, we didn't mean to let go…" Seifer looked at the two apologetic girls and could no longer hold the laughter in.  As his laughter resounded throughout the weight training room, others joined in.  Pretty soon everyone was on the ground, rolling in laughter.  Squall was the only one who remained stoic besides the confused Sae and Arisu, and the motionless Nida. 

He sighed heavily, "You still alive Nida?" Nida groaned a yes.  "Great then.  I'll be leaving."  He took one last look at the weight training room turned zoo by the only two girls in the class once again, and turned to leave.

Pulled out of their daze by Squall's movement towards the door, the destructive duo threw themselves across his path.  "You never said if you were coming or not." Sae said.

Squall tried to push passed them, but for the only two people in the entire benching world who couldn't lift the twenty-five pound bar without the added efforts of the other, they wouldn't budge.  "Okay, what do you want?"

Sae looked at Arisu in disbelief, and looked back at their commander.  "We want to know if you're coming or not."

Squall sighed and without looking them in the eye, replied, "No."

"We thought you might say that," Sae looked at her comrade.  Arisu pulled a sheet of paper out of her gym shorts, unfolded it and showed it to him.  It appeared to be a list with two columns.  One column was entitled 'people that are coming' and it had a short list of names preceding it.  The second column said 'people we are forcing to come', there was only one name following that title: his.

"We can either do this the easy or the hard way," Arisu smiled, a hint of evil in her eye.

"What are you going to do?  Hit me with a barbell?" he jeered at them, and tried once more to push past them.  He would have been successful this time if Seifer had not grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Either you give in and say you will come on your own free will…"Arisu started.

"Or he'll make you," Sae finished.

Squall looked up, Seifer peered down at him.  Normally he would not turn down a fight, especially a fight with Seifer.  But he already had detention, and he had no intentions of lengthening it.  "Fine, I will if I have time.  I have to do the technician's work until about ten o'clock."

"That's fine!  Party ends at midnight!" Sae squealed happily and gave Arisu a high five.  

"You better show, Leonhart," Seifer called after him.

"Uh…sorry to interrupt…" Zell said putting his hand on the girls' shoulders. "But we need to get Kadowaki in here, or something.  Nida's probably got quite the concussion."

"Oh, shit!  Man down!" Seifer yelled.  He had forgotten that there was a severely injured person in the room.  "Chickenwuss, get the doctor!"  Zell nodded and ran out the door.

There was a mad scramble of people as they rushed to help Nida, or in the girls' case, hide all evidence that said it was their fault.  Squall on the other hand, shrugged and left the room.  It was almost four thirty.  Five was when his shift started, and he needed to eat before he did anything.

Renee rushed into what was Selphie's future room.  A lot of people pooled their money together to help buy the almost run away clothes and furniture, since so much was lost.  It was Renee's job to get as much decorating done as possible.  Sae and Arisu were supposed to help as soon as they got done with their last class, but that wouldn't be for a while.

Renee sighed and threw the shopping bags down next to the bare bed.  "Where to start?" she thought out loud to herself.  "Might as well start with making the room livable…"

She dug through the bags and found the stuff for the bed and began making it.  "Sae and Arisu, please report to the Headmaster's office!" the intercom spoke loudly, just as she put the last pillow in place.

"In trouble again!?  They're supposed to be helping me!" She shook her head and laughed.  "Wonder what they did this time?"

"Need help?" a male voice said from the doorway.  Her heart almost stopped, she knew who it was.  "Sae and Arisu told me to help you until they got out of the Headmaster's office."

"S-Sure.  That'd be great!" she smiled nervously.

"Okay, what do you need done?"

"Um…well…" she looked at the bags.  "Just take everything out of those and put them wherever."

"Simple enough." The room was silent as Seifer looked through the bags.  Renee was busy hanging up clothes when suddenly the room was not silent anymore.  Seifer had found a stereo in one of the bags and plugged it in, rock blared on the speakers.  "I love this song!" he yelled over the loud music.

"Me too!" she laughed, putting a shirt on a hanger.

"Are there any tools in here so I can hang the bulletin board up?" 

"No, just set it against the wall."

Just as she was finishing hanging up clothes, she was pulled away from the closet.  A big pair of hands had grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around.  She was standing face-to-face with Seifer.  Before either knew what they were doing, they were dancing to the rock music and laughing.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat loudly and the music was turned down.  "Ooooh, what was going on in here?"

"Hey!  What do you know!  It's Weak and Weaker!" Seifer laughed, "So what's the punishment?"

"Wait a minute!" Renee interrupted, "First of all, what was the crime?"

"I'll let them tell you, I'm supposed to keep watch for Selphie."  Without saying anything else, he ran from the dorm.

"Looked like you two were having fun," Arisu winked.  Renee turned a light pink and quickly changed the subject.

"So what did you two do this time?"

"We accidentally knocked Nida out with the thirty pound barbell," Sae mumbled.

"Hyne!  How the hell did _that _happen!?" she exclaimed.

"We kinda…lost control of it…"

"No, Sae piled on lotion before we got into the room and her hands were too greasy to grip anything!"

"Hey!  You let go too!

"I couldn't hold onto it by myself!  I would have gone flying with it!"

"Okay you two, I get the picture.  So what did Cid say?"

"For punishment we have to take the SeeD written exam," Sae said quietly.

"What day?"

"Tomorrow," they said in unison.

"It shouldn't be too bad!  A lot of people are retaking their SeeD exams to raise their rank tomorrow.  You'll know a lot of people there!"

"You don't understand!  Our freedom of not being SeeDs will officially be over!"

"We won't be able to share a room together!"

"Then why don't you fail it intentionally?"

"Cid said he'll pass us anyway because he knows that we know the material," Arisu cried dramatically.

"Oh, sucks to be you two," Renee chuckled, then look at the recently plugged in digital clock.  "Crap!  Help me with the streamers and banners!  We have roughly ten minutes before guests are due.  Twenty before Selphie and Quistis get back!"

Sure enough, it was about a quarter until seven.  It was already dark outside except for the Garden's lights as the trio worked double-time.  Luckily it didn't take long to decorate.  Pink streamers hung everywhere and balloons littered the floor.  Across the room a gigantic sign read 'Welcome back Selph!' in big yellow letters.

At that point, the only people in the room awaiting her arrival were Renee, Arisu, Sae and Seifer.  He had informed them that he saw the Garden car return to the parking lot and that Quistis would be bringing Selphie up at any minute.  All of the others would be arriving randomly through the night.  The lights were switched off and four were crouched in the corner.

From under the door came a faint light from the hall.  The door swung open and everyone jumped out screaming, "SURPRISE!"  

"Wow, that's nice guys, but you've got the wrong person." It was not Selphie, but Xu.  She still had on her SeeD uniform and her short brown hair was pulled hastily back into a low ponytail.  

"Another girl?" Seifer complained.  Everyone laughed.

"Sorry, the guys won't be showing up until later," Renee giggled.

"Anyway, I just saw Selphie and Quistis," Xu's voice dropped to a whisper, everyone leaned in to hear what she was saying.  "They were coming out of the parking lot, so I rushed to beat them-,"

"What are you people doing in my room!?" Everyone's eyes grew to the size of saucers as they turned to come face-to-face with the person they were supposed to surprise.

"Oops…" Sae mumbled.

"SURPRISE!" everyone else exclaimed.  Selphie looked confused.

"Okay, let's try this again," Quistis laughed and led Selphie back out of the room.  Seifer shut the lights off again and everyone rushed back to their corner.  The door opened again and lights were flipped on.  

"Surprise!" everyone yelled at once, jumping out of their hiding places for the second time.  Selphie screamed and covered her mouth, almost falling on her back.

"What do you guys think?  Was she surprised enough?" Quistis asked.

"Nah…I don't think so…" Renee winked.

"Okay, Sefie!  Let's try that one more time!" Sae yelled and pushed her out of the room, once again, closing the door.  "On the count of three!"  She shut off the lights.  "One, two, three!" She threw open the door again and flipped the lights back on.

"SURPRISE!" 

"Oh my GOD!" Selphie yelled and pretended to faint.  

"It's better, but still needs work," Arisu said slowly.

"Should we try it again?" Xu laughed.

"No, I hit my head on the wall on the way down that time," Selphie said, rubbing her sore head.

"Okay then," Quistis winked.

"Welcome back!" Renee, Sae and Arisu yelled together.  Then, simultaneously, they ran to hug their friend.

"How was Balamb?" Renee asked.

"It wasn't all _that _bad," she admitted.  "I want everyone to meet the newest member of our group!"  Selphie turned to the door and whistled.  A dog walked into the room and sat next to Selphie's heels.  "Everyone, meet Rocks!" 

Instantly, Renee plopped down beside the dog and began scratching him behind the ears, "He's so sweet!"

"Yeah!  And Cid already gave me the okay to keep him in Balamb Garden!  As long as he does his business in the training center, Cid sees nothing wrong with me keeping him!"

"That's great!" Arisu exclaimed, "But why did you name him Rocks?"

"Now _that _is an interesting story!" Quistis laughed.

"I hate kids, I hate kids, I hate kids," had been Squall's mantra since he had suited up into the white jumpsuit of the Garden technicians.  The stupid brats had been pestering him ever since he came on duty; asking him stupid questions he would love to respond to with a fist.  Since fighting was exactly the way he got into the mess, he avoided it and instead started his mantra.  

His job was to fix all electronics that needed repairing and telling students their I.D. numbers if they asked.  He had a clipboard with all the student names listed, but he avoided referring to it.  Every minute felt like an hour and he wasn't sure how much more he could take.

"Yo, Squall…what number am I?" someone snickered.  He couldn't quite see clearly who it was because he was focusing on rewiring the computers in the second floor classroom.  Instead, he continued with _his _version of standard procedure.

"Kid in red shoes number twelve: Student I.D. number seventy two thousand, hundred, two million three four…"

"Geez Squall, you're just throwing out numbers aren't you?  'Cuz this thing says my I.D. number is 62184…"

Suddenly Squall recognized the voice, "Zell?" from behind him he heard a gulp.

"U-U-Uh…y-ya.  Heh…hey, S-Squall.  J-Just came by to check up on you.  Heh." From the corner of his eye, Squall saw the red shoes begin to back away.

Squall popped his neck and stood up straight, turning around to face Zell, when suddenly something dawned on him.  "Zell, do you have any idea how many students in Garden have the exact same shoes as you?" 

"N-N-No Squall…how…uh, how many?"

"It's really quite remarkable.  Twelve people, Zell.  Twelve.  What's really weird is that they all had the same orange socks too; with 'Zell rocks my socks off' stitched on them.  _And _they all had the same spastic voice."

"Uh-uh-uh y-ya.  Uh, wow S-Squall, that really is remarka-remarkable.  T-Twelve, huh?  I sure m-must be popular, huh?" 

"Zell, you've been the one asking me your student I.D. number and birthday to the exact hour and second of your birth for the last four hours, everyone half an hour, haven't you?"

"W-What?  M-M-M-M-Me?" Zell's stutter had worsened considerably.  "N-N-Nooo-ho-ho."

"So, in reality, my mantra shouldn't have been, 'I hate kids, I hate kids,' it should've been, 'I hate kids and I hate Zell'…" Before any actual pummeling could take place, the commander's wristwatch started beeping, signaling the end of his shift.  "Thank Hyne!" he exclaimed as he ripped his hat off.  Zell watched in disbelief at his luck and proceeded to make his escape.

Once Squall had gotten over the ecstasy of realizing his shift was over, he headed out the door and towards his dorm.  While walking there, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the real technicians and them having to put up with immature students always asking what their student I.D. number was.  As he neared his dorm, he saw two shadows in the distance.  He leaned forward a little to see if he could make them out more.  Nothing.  So instead he decided that since the two specks were right outside his dorm he'd do some investigating.

As it turned out, it was Sae and Arisu, making sure he didn't do whatever it was that he was doing.  Just when he turned on his heel to run, he felt something or rather, some things hurtle full speed into his back, knocking him completely off balance.  

"Nice drop kick, Sae!"

"Why thank you, Arisu!  And your Kung-Fu has really come a long way as well."

Squall stared up at the ceiling.  "Dear Hyne!  What do you WANT from me?"

The two psychopathic girls stared down at him, grinning.  "We want you to come to Selphie's party, of course!" 

Squall wondered if in their minds they really thought they were Hyne, and_ why _they asked for Seifer's assistance on making him come when they were clearly lethal without his help.

"Dear Hyne, Sae!  I think we killed him!" Arisu shrieked.

"Oh no!  Selphie will never forgive us!!" Sae panicked.

"I'm not dead," he muttered, lifting his head.  Slowly, he heaved a sigh, "I'll go to the party, I promise.  But can I at least change?"

"You have five minutes buddy!" 

"Yeah, otherwise Arisu and I will have to come in there and take you out by force!"

"Whatever…" he waved a hand over his shoulder as he unlocked the door to his dorm.  He felt their eyes boring a hole into the back of his head, but he didn't turn around.  Once the door was shut, he slunk onto his bed and turned on the radio.  His body ached from his first day of work, and it screamed for rest, as did his mind.  But a promise was a promise.

Using all of his will power he sat up, unbuttoned the jumpsuit and threw it into the bathroom where it would be waiting for him the next day.  As fast as he could, he pulled on a pair of black pants and a white tee shirt; his trademark look.

Before he opened his door, he ran his right hand through his messy hair.  Lastly, he put a sling around his injured arm, hiding as much of the hideous cast as possible.  When he opened his door he found that Sae and Arisu didn't wait for him.  He wanted to double back into his room, but a part of him drove him to the girls' dormitories.

_Seifer is right…I do owe her an apology…_  It was this thought that drove him down the long hallway.  He approached the door; laughter was coming from within.  Carefully, he opened it.  The door let out a loud creak, informing everyone of his arrival.

Now more than ever he felt like disappearing.

"Leonhart!  How nice of you do join us!" Seifer yelled from the other side of the room.  Squall nodded at him and began making his way over to him.  "I was starting to think you wouldn't come!" Seifer laughed, "The amount of estrogen in this room is overwhelming!"

"No kidding," Squall agreed.  He began to scan the room.

"She's in the bathroom," Seifer said, taking a drink from the pop can he held in his hand.

"Oh, but I wasn't loo-,"

"Don't lie, Leonhart," the blond said with relish, "I'm no idiot."

"Whatever…"

Xu walked over to where the boys were standing.  "Hey Squall!  I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Hi, Xu."

"It's so good to have Selphie back!  She was only gone for a few days but still…she's what brings so much of the cheerfulness into Garden."

"Yeah, Ms. Sunshine sure does know how to light up the room," Seifer agreed.

Xu started saying something else, but at that moment the bathroom door opened and out stepped Selphie.  Squall didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for her when he noticed that she was still wearing his clothes.  Apparently, she noticed he was there too.  Time seemed to stand still as the two stared at each other.

The sound of music stopped the trance-like state the two were in.  "Let's liven up this party!" Renee had declared, turning up the stereo, despite Quistis' plea to keep it down.

Squall felt the urge to go up to Selphie.  He _had _to apologize for acting the way he did, but he couldn't get himself to move.  It seemed as if Selphie had the same problem, because instead of approaching him she walked straight over to Sae, Arisu and Renee.

He felt like the black sheep, he had no one to talk to, but he grew used to this feeling long ago.  Just as he was walking back over to Xu, Quistis and Seifer, the door burst open.

"Zell!" Arisu exclaimed.

"Shh!" he put a finger to his mouth.  "I may not be able to stay long, but I wanted to welcome Selphie back to Garden!"  He walked over to the group of girls.  "Mom called me billions of times about you.  Sorry I didn't come visit, you know I would, but Rinny's been a little…" he didn't finish.

"That's okay!  Thanks for coming anyway!" Selphie smiled.  "How long can you stay?"

"Well, what time does the party end?" 

"Midnight," Renee responded.

"I may get to stay for the rest of it then!" he smiled.  "Welcome back, Selph!" he said, giving her a hug.  "Things weren't the same without ya."

"Of course not!  It's because I'm so awesome!" she smiled.  Zell laughed and started walking to the cooler to get a soda.  Squall made sure he met him there.  Zell still hadn't noticed him, so the commander used this to his benefit.  He came up from behind him and smacked him in the back of the head.  Zell's face came in contact with the wall.

"Frickin' hell!" he yelled and turned around to look at Squall.  "What the hell was that for!?  Surely you aren't still mad 'cuz of the whole student I.D. joke…"

"No, I never got a chance to thank you for your beautiful artwork."

"Artwork?"

"Look at what you did to my cast!" he pointed to all of the drawings all over the pink cast.

"What makes you think I did it?"

"YOU SIGNED YOUR NAME!  It says right here, 'I love hotdogs –Zell Dincht'."

"Uh…" Zell looked around for an excuse, but instead found himself laughing.  By this time he wasn't the only one.  Everyone else, including Squall, was doing the same.

"What's this supposed to be anyway?" Squall asked, pointing to a particular drawing that he wasn't able to make out.  "A hotdog?"

"It's a unicorn…" the room erupted with laughter again.

The two friends walked to the corner.  "So what's been going on?  I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you in forever!"

Squall shrugged.  "Nothing really.  I came here to apologize to Selphie, but I…never mind."

"What?" Zell urged.  "C'mon tell me!" Squall merely leaned against the wall.

"Just drop it.  Forget I said anything."

"Okay man, whatever." Neither spoke for a few moments.  "Hey, um…Squall…I don't know if you already know about this…"

"You're going out with Rinoa.  I know, and no, I don't resent you for it."

"Wow!  Hyne man!  You could be a psycho!"

"Psychic, Zell."

"You knew what I meant," the martial artist laughed.  "But, going back to the Selphie subject.  If you were planning on apologizing, you'd better do it soon."

"I know…"

"Go on!  I'll go too if it makes you feel better," he winked.

"I can manage by myself." With dignity, Squall walked over to where it seemed Selphie was carrying on a very intellectual conversation with Quistis about chocobos.

"Hey, uh…Selph, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Selphie shot Quistis an uncomfortable and worried look, then nodded.  Squall held on to her by the shoulder and led her away from the instructor.  "Can we go somewhere quieter?" he asked, "This music makes it to where I can hardly think."

"Yeah, we can step outside.  Just be sure to keep your voice down.  We don't want to get in trouble…"

The two stepped into the hallway, Selphie quietly shutting the door behind them.  Now that he had her alone, Squall didn't know where to start, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I noticed you're still wearing my clothes," he smiled lightly.

"Oh!  I'm sorry, here you can have them back-,"

"Oh no, that's alright.  You can keep them if you want.  I have enough of them anyway."

"Okay," she smiled up at him, but the smile quickly faded and he saw her lip tremble.  As she began to cry, she looked up at him, "Do you still hate me?"  Silent tears rolled down her cheeks.  He didn't know what to do; Rinoa was never this emotional.

"No Sefie.  I never hated you…  So please, don't cry."

She brought her hands up to cover her red eyes.  "I'm so sorry!  I'm not trying to, they just won't stop."

He couldn't take watching her cry anymore; he wanted to stop her somehow.  But he was so short of practice on this topic, he was at a loss.  Improvising, Squall wrapped his uninjured arm around her small waist and allowed her to cry into his chest.  Her sniffling soon stopped and her breathing regulated.

"Are you better now?" he asked, looking at the top of her head.

She took a shuddery breath and looked into his slate blue eyes.  She nodded, and then chuckled between her tears.  "You have some grease on your cheek.  Hold still…" Standing on her tiptoes, she was able to rub it off with her thumb.  "That's better," she smiled.  Wiping the moisture from under her eyes with the back of her hand, she began opening the door.

"Hey, wait Selphie!" he said, grabbing her arm.  "You don't need to apologize for anything.  I'm the one who owes you an apology for acting like such an ass.  I overreacted on Thursday and I…I'm sorry."  He tried to look her in the eyes but both of hers were closed, and a new tear ran down her cheek.  "I'm sorry," he repeated quietly.

Her big green eyes reopened and she smiled widely, and hugged him tight, wrapping her arms around his stomach.  "Apology accepted," she said into his chest.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat loudly.  It didn't come from Selphie's room either.  They both stared at Selphie's neighbor's door.  It was ajar and someone familiar stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.  Automatically, Selphie's brain registered who it was.  This was the same woman Irvine had cheated on her with.

She was wearing a very short and immodest silk robe that had been hastily tied.  One of her hands rested on her hip and the other was holding her head, the elbow resting on the side of the doorframe.  Her long and curly red hair was askew, and Selphie counted about five hickeys that were perfectly visible around her neck.  This woman didn't try to hide them, in a way she almost showed them off.

"What are you two doing?" she asked, eyeing Squall suspiciously.  "No boys allowed in or near girls dormitories, you should know better than that Commander Leonhart," she shook her head, causing the strawberry curls to bounce.  "Tsk, tsk, tsk…"

Squall wanted to yell 'how long have you been listening!?' but held his tongue.  The redhead smirked maliciously and shut her door.

"We better go back to the party," Selphie finally said, turning back to the door.  However, when she pushed against it, it didn't open.

"Did they lock us out?" Squall asked quietly so as not to be noticed by anyone else.

"I think the door may be jammed, but I'm not sure."

"Let me try."  Pressing his right shoulder against the door, he turned the knob and pushed against it.  The door was dislodged, but the force sent all who were standing near flying.  That just so happened to be everyone.

"Were you listening in too?" Squall asked agitatedly to all the bodies sprawled across the floor.

"No!  Um…" Sae and Arisu looked at each other.  "We started a congo line, and everyone joined us.  When you opened the door, it hit Arisu and she lost balance."

"Why is it that it's always _me _who loses balance in the stories!?"

"Fine then!  _I _lost balance and it was the domino effect."

While it seemed like something those two would do, Squall had his doubts.  One by one everyone got up to resume the party.  Renee had landed on top of Seifer after the incident and when she stood up off of him, she felt dizzy.  She wobbled a bit and almost fainted, but Seifer managed to catch her.

"You alright?" he asked.

She opened her hazel eyes and nodded.  "Ya know, you really _are _cute…" Seifer laughed and winked at her.  Those hazel eyes entranced him and he couldn't help but think: _Hyne, she's beautiful.  _He just couldn't bring himself to say it.  Instead he helped her straighten up.  "Wanna dance?"

Renee's eyes lit up.  "Would I?"  Seifer stared at her a little uneasily and he swore he could see little stars in her eyes.  And stars, as all males know, meant one thing…glomping; a man's worst fear.  As he got ready to back away she giggled.  "I would love to!"   Seifer breathed a sigh of relief.  That was a close one…

 The party raged on for another hour or so and as midnight approached, people began dragging themselves out of Selphie's dorm.  Selphie stood at the door and thanked each and every one of them as they left.  "Bye, Zell!  Thanks for sneaking over tonight!" Selphie smiled and waved cheerily as he began making his way stealthily down the hall to the boys' dorms.

While she watched him go, out of nowhere, something grabbed onto her shoulders.  She turned her head to come face to face with Arisu.  "So…much…dancing…don't know…if…I can…make it…" the exhausted blond spat out, apparently using up all her energy as she collapsed in a heap on the already struggling Sae, who had been trying to drag herself out of the dorm using only her arms to propel her.  Both of their legs had given out a long time ago while jumping to Rammstein.  

"Ugh…ugh…ugh…thank…s…ugh…for…urgh having…us….Self…" Sae managed to wheeze out.

Selphie laughed.  "You guys were the hosts, not me."

"What…ever," Sae gasped.

"Yeah…you…keep…your ear…out of this…we…don't…need your…lip…" Arisu breathed out as she managed to take up a similar position to Sae.  Selphie watched in interest as her two pathetic friends dragged themselves down the hall.  Once she regained her voice, she shouted after the two.

"Hey!  Wrong way you guys!"

"Noooo-ho-ho-hoooooo," the blond squealed.  

"That's it.  I give up.  Hyne!  Just kill me now!" the defeated brunette proclaimed as loudly as she could manage.

Selphie walked towards the two girls. "Want me to help?"

"No.  We already settled out accounts with the floor.  We are sleeping right…here," Sae yelled pointing dramatically at the floor.

"Alright then.  See you tomorrow you two."

"Right…See you tomorrow."

Selphie walked slowly back to her dorm.  Tonight had been amazing!  She was finally back home with all her friends.  Even Squall had come to welcome her back.  He really didn't hate her.  She'd even…he'd even…they had even hugged!  Just thinking about it made the small girl turn completely red.  

As she walked into her dorm, she came head-to-head with her worst nightmare.  Day one back home and she was going to have to clean _this?!  _Her gaze fell across the many pop cans that littered her desk.  Zell had managed to drink most of them in less than an hour.  Though Zell, not being the brightest crayon in the box, did not realize that by doing this he would be stuck in the bathroom for the rest of the night.  

She then turned to look at the stuffed animal pyramid that Seifer had made all by himself with Renee coaching him the entire way through.  A tent had been made from her sheets and mattress stretching from the TV to the bed.  This particular monument had been made by Sae, Arisu and Quistis and was immediately proclaimed their stronghold.  How they got Quistis to help may never be known.  

The chestnut haired girl laughed softly then groaned.  "Why me?  I hate cleaning!  Come on Hyne, you knew that!" she shouted, looked skyward.

Out of the blue, from somewhere behind her, she heard _his _voice.  "Want some help?" 

Selphie couldn't stop the blushing of her cheeks but at least tried to remain calm and in control.  "Sure!  That'd be great!  I hate cleaning, ya know?"

Squall nodded and headed towards the animal pyramid.  "What's this?"

"Oh, that's Mr. Woof Woof," Selphie stated very matter-of-factly.

Squall seemed to laugh a little which delighted the younger SeeD.  Anyone who accomplished such a feat should be awarded a medal or two at least.

He tried again, "That's not quite what I meant.  What I meant was, what is_ this_?" he asked, making a motion with his hands, engulfing the entirety of the pyramid.

Selphie cocked her head to one side.  "That?  It's the eighth wonder of the world.  Geez, Squall!  Don't you keep up with the times?"

"Can I…um…knock it down?"

"You should be asking Seifer that.  He's the creator of this architectural wonder.

"Really…I didn't know…well…I'm sure that he won't mind…"

Selphie watched as Squall pulled Mr. Woof Woof off the top of the pyramid and set him on her bed.  He continued to do this with each and every animal.  Selphie was shocked.  She had expected Squall to knock down her pyramid of loves with a swift kick of his foot.  This small action may have meant little to a bystander, to her though it showed that he understood her, or at least a little…and that he cared enough about her feelings!  Or maybe she was just fooling herself.  That could be the way he would have done things regardless.  The thought he might care, even a little, filled her with hope.

"Hey!  No!  Stop it!  Bad dog!" Selphie looked up from where she was picking up confetti to see Rocks hauling Mr. Woof Woof off to his 'special corner' and Squall following behind.

Rocks, having spent most of his doggy life stealing food from angry butchers, had hardly any problems outrunning and evading the SeeD.  Selphie watched in amusement as Squall lunged and plunged repeatedly after the fluffy toy.  After a couple of minutes she chose to intervene and help the poor guy out.

"Come here Rocks!  Come here my kitty!"  Immediately the shaggy dog came running, dropping the stuffed animal at Squall's feet.  Selphie kneeled down so that she was level with Rocks and began rubbing the panting dog's ears.  "Whoza good kitty!?  Whoza good kitty!?" 

Still breathing hard from chasing the dog, Squall eyed her.  "That's a really big cat…" 

"He's not a cat, silly!  He's a dog!  And he's my kitty!"  Selphie explained what she thought made perfect sense.

"I give up," he sighed, falling backwards onto her bed.  "I'm beat, and too tired to even try to figure out what you just said."

Selphie laughed.  "That's alright, you can go on back to your dorm.  I can finish the cleaning."

"But that's not right, it's your first night back.  You shouldn't have to clean all of this up by yourself."  With a grunt, he heaved himself back up and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.  "So, what else do you need done?"

Wearily, she glanced around the room.  "I probably should try to get that banner down…and the streamers too."

Squall looked from her then to the streamers and came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no way that she would be able to reach them without the help of a ladder.  "Let me handle that."

"Okay, I'll start with the pop cans then," she smiled.  She grabbed the trashcan and carried it over to the desk covered in cans and other trash.  With a swipe of her hand, she knocked all of the offending junk into the garbage.  As she was getting ready to set the trash bag outside for the janitor to pick up, she was stopped.

"Selph, can you give me a hand?" Squall asked.

"What do you need help with?" she said, shutting the door behind her.

"I got all of the streamers down, but I can't reach the banner…"

"Uh…sorry to point this out, but I'm shorter than you.  I can't reach it either!"

Squall laughed, most uncharacteristically and started walking over to her. "I know that.  I'll lift you high enough for you to tear it down." 

"B-B-," She felt so stupid, she couldn't think of what she should say and before she could do anything, before she could even reply to his idea, she could feel his huge hands on her waist, already lifting her high enough to grasp the paper banner.  Eyes wide, and mouth agape in utter shock, she squealed as she felt her legs leave the ground.

"Whatever you do, don't kick backwards," he grunted.

Selphie glanced up and began reaching as far as she could.  Still, her fingers could barely brush against the paper sign.  "A little higher," she said.  She could feel as his knees bent and he pushed her even further up.  Finally, she was able to grasp the banner.  "Got it!" she announced.

Suddenly, she felt the ground under her feet again and she yanked on the bit of banner that was in her hand.  The entire thing fell from the ceiling.  "So, what's the story behind the dog?" Squall asked, sitting on the floor next to Rocks.

"Oh, him?  I saved him from a butcher."

"What!?" Squall's face turned white at the thought that a butcher was after a dog, and maybe _that _was what was really in the cafeteria's hotdogs. 

"He was a stray, stealing food from just about anywhere he could.  When I found him a butcher was chasing him out of the meat store.  Poor kitty was only hungry," she smiled down at the dog and patted his head.

"Do I even want to know why you named him Rocks?"

Selphie smiled wide, "I don't know.  Do you?"

"Sure, how come?"

"I had to sneak him into the hotel somehow, so I went to the Dincht's house and his mom let me borrow a suitcase.  I hid him inside the suitcase, but as one of the bellhops was carrying it, he kept asking what was inside because it was so heavy."

"And you said rocks?"

"Yes!  And after that, it just stuck.  I kept telling everyone that Rocks was in my suitcase, and it wasn't a lie."

"I see.  So, he kept you company in Balamb?" She nodded.  

"And Cid gave me the approval to keep him!  I'm thinking of training him just like Rinny trained Ang-," she stopped herself.  

If her bringing up his ex-girlfriend bothered Squall then he didn't show it.  It was silent as the two looked around her dorm.  "I think that's it," she said slowly.  "Thanks for helping!"

"Your welcome," he said in his trademark monotonous voice.  

"It's late, I hope you get enough sleep for work tomorrow!" 

"I'm used to running on little to no sleep," he said, but she knew it was a lie to make her feel better.  He walked to the door, and she followed closely behind.

"Goodnight," he said, turning to look at her.  For a fleeting moment it looked as if he was going to kiss her.  Her heart stopped beating, and it seemed as if she was almost afraid to breath too.  Her entire body seemed to have frozen up, but he didn't kiss her.  As a matter of fact, he didn't even hug.  

She watched as he walked out of sight, and scolded herself for believing that he would actually kiss her.  Tiredly, she walked back into the safe reaches of her dorm.  

However, Selphie wasn't the only one watching Squall leave.  The redhead had poked her head out of her door as well and watched the retreating figure.  She glanced over her shoulder at the clock the hung on the wall.  "Two o'clock, eh?"

She smiled maliciously and shut her door, thinking of all the things that could have been going on in the room next to her.  Victoriously, she fell into her red satin sheets and let her curls flow all around her head.  Tomorrow would be a very eventful day…

*          *          *

Dum dum dummmmm….. ::Dramatic music:: Hah!  We'll keep you hanging right there.  Evil aren't we?  Yes, yes, we know.  But it should reassure everyone to know that we are working on the sixth chapter right now (nine pages typed so far) and we doubt it will be more than a month before it is posted.  (It really just depends on how fast we can get the chapter emailed to **Battle Angel Ren** and how fast she replies).  

Also, if you are interested in Beta-Reading or Musing (or both!) for one of our stories we have four ideas for new stories we will be writing once we finish the ones we're working on.  Two are Final Fantasy VIII stories, one FFVII and one for Gravitation.  More information is posted in our bio.  If you are interested, send us an email!  We'll email you back as soon as possible with a quick outline of what we're planning on doing with the story and an approximation of when we intend to start writing it.  ^o^  Until next time everyone, adios!


	6. Chapter 6

**Zariel: **Unfortunately, no one will be twisting Irvine's balls off, but much more Irvine beating/bashing should come in the next few chapters.  ^o^  And, sorry but this story won't get very lemony.  However!  We're hoping to make it somewhat limey eventually.

**Vash the Unholy: **With Swapping Souls, we're lucky if we update once every two or three months.  -.-  (**Karla3**: We will be writing in S.S!  As a matter of fact, we're getting ready to start writing chapter seven soon!)

**Squeakychris:  **Well, erm…he's a very strong guy…and uh…talented.  .  (Heh, sorry about that, our bad.   But thanks for pointing out our flaw!  We'll have to try and fix it soon).

**A fire Inside Girl: **French?  That is so cool!  And don't you worry!  The day will come when they kiss…maaaayyyybbbbbeeeeee….   But we won't tell you when…  ^o^

A/N:  Okay everyone!  This update was a lot faster than last one.  So be merry and proud!  The next update, however, may take quite a while.  Instead of working on chapter seven directly after Anna finishes her chapter of 'Keep Yourself Alive', we will be working on 'Swapping Souls' or perhaps even 'Run Away with Me!'.  So, it shouldn't be too long.  But it may be a while…   (But be happy for the moment.  This is a pretty long chapter-our longest yet- so hopefully it will keep everyone sane for a little while)

Chapter 6

            Rinoa slowly trudged down the hallway.  She had a lot on her mind.  Today the junior classmen were taking their SeeD exam, and for the field exam the teams of candidates were supposed to eliminate all monsters around Timber.  It was her who was supposed to do the mission briefing and she had yet to plan what she was going to say.  Zell, along with a handful of others, was taking a SeeD exam to raise his rank.  She wouldn't get to see him all day.

            However, the thought that kept nagging at her mind was that Selphie was back at Garden as of the previous night.  The brunette had been doing a lot of thinking thanks to Quistis' lectures.  Deep down, Rinoa knew she didn't want to lose Selphie as a friend.  She knew that she should have been there, in Selphie's new dorm, welcoming her back to Garden.

            All night, instead of planning what she should say to the junior classmen, she planned what she would say to Selphie for an apology.  Now, all she had to do was find her friend so that she could finally get all of this off of her chest.

            At seven in the morning, there are only a few places that one can be found.  With Selphie, the most likely place would be the cafeteria.  Feeling a little nervous, Rinoa turned the corner into the cafeteria only to be instantly pulled aside.

            The sudden action made Rinoa wince.  When she reopened her eyes, she found herself looking into two green eyes that were heavily made-up.  Clutching her chest, the brunette exhaled, "Roxanne!  You scared me!"

            The redhead cocked her head to the side and grabbed Rinoa's shoulder. "I thought that I should tell you before anyone else got to."

            "What?  Is something wrong?"

            Roxanne closed her eyes and dramatically bit her lip.  "He must've lied to you."

            "Who?"

            "Squall," she said maliciously, reopening her eyes.  "I saw him and Selphie last night.  They were all over each other in the hallway!"  Rinoa gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.

            "Oh, that's not all," Roxanne smiled.  "At around two I woke up because I realized that I needed to put my trash bags in the hall for the janitor to pick up.  While I was setting them beside my door, I saw him come out of her room.  The party had ended two hours ago, and he was _just _leaving.  I'm sure you can guess what they were up to…" she smirked cruelly.

            "But!  B-But…" Rinoa thought desperately.  Though she did not know Roxanne very well, she believed her.  Once again, she succumbed to her old habit of jumping to conclusions.

            Without saying anything to the redhead, Rinoa stomped into the mass of students, Roxanne just watched, still smirking.

            Well, Selphie wasn't in the cafeteria, but Rinoa found the next best thing.  Squall was sitting alone at a table, spooning his cereal into his mouth.  "I can't believe you lied to me!" she roared at the unsuspecting Commander.

            His eyes grew wide and he immediately stood up and looked at her.

            "Rinoa…didn't we already have this fight once?"

            "Yes!  And I was on the verge of apologizing and believing you!  But _now_, even if you didn't sleep with Selphie a few days ago, what were you doing with her so late last night?"

            "Huh?!" Squall was now horribly confused.

            "Don't play dumb!!  Roxanne saw you leave Selphie's dorm at two!  What's your excuse this time?  Did she get sick again!!?"

            "I was helping her cl-,"

            "I can't believe I almost apologized to both of you!  You're such an asshole!  I hope Selphie knows that!"  Tears threatened to flow when she grabbed the Griever ring that still hung on the chair around her neck, and snapped the entire necklace off.  "Here, I should've given it back sooner!"   Blinded with rage, she threw the jewelry at Squall's boots and stomped off.  She felt everyone's eyes follow her as she left.

            Squall's sad eyes glanced downward and he scooped up the copy Zell made of his ring.  Grimacing with anger, he squeezed it in his palm, almost as if he thought he could crush it, then he violently shoved it into a pocket of his black pants.  _I suppose this is what I get for trying to be nice to somebody.  _

            Still trying not to cry, Rinoa continued stomping away from the cafeteria.  She was on her way to the second floor so that she could catch Quistis before her first class and hopefully talk to her.  Not paying attention, she felt her body slam into something, or someone.

            "Rinny? Are you all right?" Rinoa looked down to see the very person whom she didn't think she wanted to ever see or speak to again.  Selphie looked just as innocent as ever, a talent that Rinoa was slowly beginning to hate.

            The brunette merely sneered down at the SeeD and continued to stomp off.  Selphie extended her arm, and opened her mouth as if she were about to grab on to Rinoa and say something, but slowly closed her mouth and let her go.  She missed Rinoa as a friend; they used to have so much fun together.  Rinoa, the carefree and free spirited one, and Selphie, the funny and all around nice one.  

            Selphie sighed and continued to the cafeteria.  She just wanted something to eat; maybe she would go to the Quad and sit on the stage to eat.  Perhaps even talk to some of her friends from the Garden Festival committee, it had been a while since she had seen a lot of them.  

            When she entered the mess hall, she saw Squall trudge out, hands jammed in his pockets.  His face was serious, as always, but his eyes were angry.  She wanted to ask him what was wrong, when she noticed something else.  Everyone was staring at her and whispering about something.  It made her feel very uncomfortable.  

            "Selphie!  There you are!" 

            She spun around to see Renee running over to her, followed closely by Sae and Arisu.  "We need to talk to you, but away from everyone else."        

            "Wha-?  Can I at least get something to eat?"

            "Sae!  Get her some breakfast!  Renee and I are taking her to our dorm!" Arisu said, turning to the longhaired brunette.  Sae nodded and ran to stand in line.  

            "What's going on?  Why's everyone acting so strange?" Selphie asked as Renee steered her back out of the cafeteria by her shoulders.

            "We'll explain once we're in our dorm, okay?"

            "We just needed to get you away from everyone in there.  Damn bunch of vultures…"

            Selphie was once again confused, but allowed her friends to drag her away.  Before long the three of them were sitting in Sae and Arisu's dorm, waiting for Sae to bring Selphie's breakfast and exchanging nervous glances.  

            "Well?  Now can I know what's going on?" 

            "Eh…" Arisu started timidly, "Well, you know Roxanne, right?"  Selphie shook her head.  She had never even heard of her, then again she didn't pay too much attention to names, only faces.  "Well, she's probably the biggest snot in Garden, her dorm is next to your new one."

            Selphie gasped, "She's the one Irvine was cheating on me with." 

            Renee nodded and Arisu looked at her feet.  

            "What about her?" Selphie pressed on.

            Suddenly the door opened and Sae stood there, "She's spreading rumors about you and Squall."  Everyone looked at the doorway where Sae stood, holding a tray of food.  "Here, Selph," she handed Selphie the tray with some dry cereal and a small carton of milk.  

            As Selphie prepared to eat, she asked, "What kind of rumors?"

            "Well," Renee started, "According to her she saw Squall leave your room around two."

            "So?  It's true, he wa-,"

            "No, no, no!  Selph!  She's insinuating that you two were having sex!" Arisu exclaimed.

            Selphie dropped the carton of milk she was holding; thankfully it wasn't opened yet.  

            "Not that we believe anything that's being said, but what exactly was happened between you two last night?" Sae asked.

            "He was helping me clean up after the party!  I swear!  That's all!"

            "Oh…" everyone seemed somewhat disappointed.  

            "Well, if you really had slept with him it would've been really cute…"

            "Arisu!" Selphie scolded.  

            "What?  It's the truth!" she said defensively.

            "Still…" Renee spoke up.  "We don't want people spreading lies about her or Squall.  Cid would crap up his back if it reached him, even if it is just a rumor."

            "True…" Arisu agreed.

            "Okay, then it's settled!" Sae smiled.  "Arisu and I will be your bouncers for the day…after we take our exam that is."

            "And Seifer and I will be on rumor patrol," Renee smiled and did a fake salute, "I 

hereby vow to beat the crap out of anyone who does so much as mention the rumor!"    "Okay, so what do I do?" Selphie asked.

            "Just…whatever you normally do."

            "I don't have any classes today.  And Cid hasn't asked me to do a mission in a long time."

            "Well, you can volunteer to supervise the junior classmen during their field exam.  That's what I'm doing," Renee beamed.

            "She's volunteering to supervise for Seifer's group," Arisu whispered into Selphie's ear.  The small SeeD giggled.

            "Or you could take an exam today to raise your rank!" Sae added in.

            "But I haven't studied…I wouldn't have a prayer in passing it."

            "Well, maybe you could find someone else who is free the rest of the day and go do something with them." 

            The only people who came to mind were Rinoa and Irvine.  Selphie dreaded the though of approaching Irvine at the moment.  "Rinoa!" she exclaimed.

            "Uh, Selph!  I'm not sure that's a very good idea!" Renee called after her, "Rin believes every word of that rumor!  I wouldn't go near her at the moment!!"  But it was too late.  Selphie was running down in the hall in the direction of Rinoa's dorm.

            "Rinny!" she knocked on the door.  "Are you in there?"

            "I don't want to talk now."

            "Look, I know you hate me at the moment.  But you have to believe me; none of the things you have heard are true!  Squall and I aren't sleeping with each other!  We aren't even really seeing each other!" Rinoa remained silent, but still listened to every word that Selphie was spewing out.  "I know that it's easier for you to believe what everyone else is saying, and I understand that you don't want to believe anything that I'm going to tell you.  But, if you do ever want to be friends again…I'm game."

            For a while, she awaited the response from Rinoa.  Finally, she heard a quiet reply, "I'm game too."

            Smiling, Selphie walked away.  Maybe, just maybe, she and Rinoa would become friends again. Selphie hoped it wouldn't be too long.  

            "How'd it go?" Renee asked the approaching SeeD.  

            "I'm not sure," Selphie answered truthfully.

            "So, have you figured out what you're doing today?" Arisu asked.

            "Nope!" she smiled.  "I have an entire day to blow, so I'll talk to Cid and see if he has anything for me to do."

            "Work!?  On a free day!!?  What the hell's wrong with you!?  Are you feeling all right?" Sae asked.

            "Well…there's nothing else for me to do…so I might as well do something productive."

            "Okay, granted," Arisu smiled.  "We better go though.  Sae and I are going to try to weasel our way out of taking the test."  The two waved goodbye to their friends and walked out of the dormitories.

            "I'll go with you to see Cid then," Renee beamed.

            Sae and Arisu slunk around a corner, and traded secretive glances.  Arisu nodded and ran into the classroom where Quistis was busy typing up something on her laptop.  While the Instructor was preoccupied, the blond girl grabbed a copy of the exam and ran out, screaming, "Sae!  Sae!  I've got the secret documents!"

            Quistis looked up abruptly and pulled her glasses off.  "Ms. Doehring!!  _What _may I ask, do you think you're doing?" 

            Arisu smiled, their plan was working.  "Busted," she mumbled.  

            "Give me the exam," Quistis said calmly, extending a hand.  

            Eyes fixated on the floor, Arisu handed the papers back over to the Instructor.  "Take a seat, girls.  The test will be starting shortly."

            "What!!?" Sae exclaimed.  "We just tried to steal a copy of the test!  Shouldn't you automatically fail us?"

            "You're trying too hard, weaklings," came a taunting voice.  Seifer stood in the doorway, smirking.  

            "Hello, Seifer," Quistis said monotonously.  "Take a seat.  And girls, the reason I didn't excuse you from the test is because I'm under strict orders from Cid to make sure you take the exam at all costs."

            Seifer sat in a desk, crossed his arms across his chest, leaned back in the chair and swung his feet onto the desk.  "Did Renee tell you your duties?" Sae asked him.

            "Yeah, and I promise I'll get to it after the exams," he said, closing his eyes.

            "What's this you're talking about?" Quistis asked curiously.

            Before anyone could answer her, someone else burst through the door in a rather dramatic manner.  It was Zell.  He ran in, looked around desperately, let out a sigh of relief, and ran to where Quistis sat at her desk.  Panting from obviously running, he put all of his weight onto her desk and leaned forward to where he was right in her face.  "They've found me, I have to leave the country."  And with that, he darted in the direction of the door again.

            "Sit down, Zell, and don't give me that crap.  You aren't getting out of taking your test again," the blond Instructor laughed.

            Seifer joined her in laughing, "But I have to admit that was a pretty good one for you, chickenwuss."

            "Okay, now what duty?" Quistis asked, going back to their previous topic.

            "Roxanne is spreading rumors about Squall and Selphie.  She knew about the party, and she saw Squall leave a few hours late," Arisu explained.

            All of the color seemed to drain out of both Quistis and Zell's faces.  "Did she know who all attended?" 

            Seifer shrugged.  "Who knows?  But it's my job to help prevent the spreading of rumors."

            "If Cid knew I was at a mixed party passed curfew, my job would be at stake!" Quistis said worriedly.

            "I just hope Rinoa doesn't find out," Zell muttered.

            "No more talk about this, we can't afford to be overheard!" Sae pointed out.  Everyone nodded and sat in desks.  Slowly, but surely, the room started to fill up with non-SeeDs and SeeDs alike.  Squall was the last to enter.

            The room was very noisy as everyone talked loudly to each other.  Squall's entering didn't make the noise level any better, as several heads turned to look at him and the students whispered amongst themselves.

            "Quiet!  Quiet everyone!" Quistis ordered loudly.  "Now, listen as I give instructions!  I want all SeeD candidates with me on the left side of the room.  All SeeDs taking an exam to raise their rank sit on the right with Squall.  Once the tests are passed out, no talking will be permitted.  Those who do talk will be asked to leave immediately.  Because this exam is a standardized test, any writing utensil other than a number two pencil will void your results.  If you do not own one, we have a limited supply of extras available.  

            "And as we like to say, 'when in doubt, answer C,'" she laughed at her own joke.  All of the students didn't seem to like the test humor; most were not there because they wanted to be.    She cleared her throat and started again, "If you have any questions please ask either me or Commander Leonhart.  We are here to help."

            "Does anyone have any questions as of now?" Squall asked, looking around the room.  No one seemed to have anything to ask, until a junior classman boy in the back piped up.  

            "Is it true that you slept with Selphie last night?"

            Quistis' eyes grew wide, and she covered her mouth with a pale hand.  Squall's face hardened, "Get out," he said harshly, pointing a gloved hand to the door.  "Go talk to Cid about whether or not you'll be staying in Garden for your disrespect."  The boy smirked as he left the room; Squall's hard gaze followed him the entire way out.  

"Damn…" Seifer muttered to himself as he watched the younger boy leave.  "What a way to make a scene."

            "If anyone else wants to ask me questions pertaining to anything other than this exam, you may join him."  Eyes wide with fear, the students said nothing more.  

            "Was that really necessary?" Quistis whispered in Squall's ear as she readied to pass out the exams.  

            "He wanted to be a SeeD?  What kind of a SeeD doesn't respect his colleagues?" Squall defended himself quietly.  

Quistis shook her head, "But now I'm afraid you'll cause the rumor to spread to the Headmaster himself."

            "Damn, I didn't think of that!!" he slammed his hand against the desk, causing several students to jump.  

            "Here," she dumped the exams for the junior classmen into his hands.  "I'll try to catch up to him before he gets to the Headmaster's office and talk to him; just pass these out for me."

            Squall nodded as Quistis rushed out of the door.  As he passed out the exams, he noticed that hardly anyone dared make eye contact with him.  He liked it that way.

            Cid glanced up at the two girls who had entered his office.  "Hello, what can I do for you ladies?"

            "Um, sir, I was just curious as of whether or not you had anything for me to do today," Selphie bowed slightly.  "I have the day off, and nothing to do.  If you need help with anything around Garden, I'm free."

            "Actually, Selphie, you may be in luck," he smiled up at her.  "Are you good with computers?"

            "Yes sir!"

            "I've had several students put in requests for some sort of 'spirit wear' recently.  If you could make a design on a computer for some t-shirts, sweaters, that sort of thing, I would really appreciate it." 

            "Why, sure!" she smiled broadly.  "It sounds like fun!" 

            "Well then," he dug through his desk and finally pulled out a floppy disk.  "This disk has the Garden emblem and seal saved on it.  Take however long you need to get this done.  There's no rush."

            "I will hereby do my best to create a super-cool design for our Garden shirts!" she exclaimed, raising a fist into the air.  "For the enjoyment of the students of Balamb Garden!  And for all other Gardens everywhere!" 

            Renee laughed to see Selphie back to her old self.  She definitely missed the spontaneous and hyperactive person she first met upon arriving at Balamb Garden.

            Cid waved merrily at the two girls, and went back to his paperwork.  

            "Well, I need to find a computer to work at," Selphie said as the two walked out of the office.  When they got to Xu's desk, they noticed Quistis walking with a boy; she was leading him to the elevator.  

            "We decided not to inform Cid of your behavior, but you will be serving a detention with Seifer…" she was saying.  

Renee smiled at the sound of Seifer's name.  After she snapped out of her trance, she announced, "Okay, I need to go to training."

"For what?"

"Everyone who volunteered to supervise the junior classmen has to go to a training session.  You know, for the worst case scenarios."

"I suppose."

"I'll see you after the exams!  Good luck finding a computer!" 

The two waved goodbye and went their separate ways.  Renee headed for the Quad where the rest of the SeeD volunteers were assembling whereas Selphie walked for the library in hopes of finding an unoccupied computer.

Squall leaned back in Quistis' leather office chair, anxiously awaiting for the Instructor's return.  His ice-blue eyes swept over the classroom when he saw a hand shoot up.

"Do you have a question?" he asked quietly as he approached her desk.

"Can I move to a different location?" she asked timidly.

"Is there a reason why you ask this?" she nodded her head toward a boy who occupied the chair next to her.

He was talking to himself, almost as if he were debating the answers to himself.  "When battling an enemy with abnormally thick armor or hide, you should first: a) determine the enemy's 'weak spots' by casting SCAN,  b) have you strongest attacker attack it….Okay.  So I can rule out answers c and d, because those are just bogus.  Now, I'm not so sure whether the answer is a or b…"

"Sir, I'm sorry, but there is no talking permitted as long as exams are out," Squall stated firmly.

The boy looked up and glanced to both sides, then pointed to himself in a questioning manner.

"Yes, you," Squall confirmed.

The boy scoffed.  "Oh, I'm _so _sure you can hear me thinking."  He rolled his eyes and looked back down at his test.  "Man, Commander Leonhart can be such a jerk!  How'd a stiff like him get in charge?"

The girl tried to suppress her laughter.  Even Squall found it somewhat difficult to not laugh, but he knew he couldn't allow him to take the test.  "This is your last warning, either you stop your talking or you leave."

"I'm back," someone said quietly, touching his shoulder.  "You can focus on just the SeeDs.  I'll take care of the junior classmen."

"Thanks, Quist," he sighed and walked back to the right side of the room.  

The room was relatively quiet.  Seifer sat in his desk; his feet were still propped up.  From the looks of it he hadn't done so much as look at his exam.  Instead he was folding his scrap paper into a very complex-looking airplane.  Quistis sat at her desk reading something.  While she wasn't paying attention he threw the paper projectile at her, aiming precisely at her left nostril.  He was ecstatic when it hit, though Quistis was not.

"Who did that?" she demanded.  "Who threw this?" she held up the paper airplane.  Her gaze shifted until she was looking straight at Seifer as if she expected him to plea guilty.  "Was it you?"

"Nope.  He did it," Seifer pointed to the boy in the desk next to his.  Quistis narrowed her eyes as if saying 'it's on now'.  Oh, how Seifer loved to antagonize her.  Once her back was turned, he threw an eraser at her back.  Her shoulders tensed and she turned to look at him again.

"Is there something you want, Mr. Almasy?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, actually there is." He leaned over his extended legs, "Quisty…"

"You will refer to me as Instructor Trepe," she said coldly.

"Ah, yes ma'am," Seifer gave one of his trademark half-smiles.  "I just wanted to comment on how incredibly sexy you look today."

"Bite me, Seifer," she spat, rolling her eyes.  She then turned on her boot heel and sat back in her leather chair.  Seifer snickered and leaned even further back in his chair.

Suddenly, the almost perfectly quiet classroom was loud again as one of the SeeDs yelled, "Hyne!  Screw this!"  She then stood up, violently threw the test down, and stomped out of the room.  Squall stared wide-eyed at her until she slammed the door behind her.  He and Quistis exchanged amused looks then went back to 'supervising'.

"Pst!  Squall!" The Commander averted his gaze to the blond martial artist sitting in front of him.  Zell was motioning for Squall to come over, so he got up and walked over to the blond's desk.  

"Yeah?"

"What's the answer to question number twenty-three?" he whispered.

"Sorry.  Can't help you."

"C'mon man!  I studied so hard!  I got all of the other questions right!  Just tell me!"

"If you got all the others right then you're bound to pass."

"Yeah!  But…" Zell lowered his voice.  "I'm in competition with that junior classman over there."

Squall followed Zell's eyes to a girl with black hair with gold highlights.  "Oh, that Kacina Owens girl?"

"Er, everyone calls her Kace…but yeah.  But, _damn _she's smart!  My only prayer in beating her score is getting all of the questions right!"

"Tough." Squall straightened back up, but Zell grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Pleeeaaassseee?"

"She's taking the SeeD entrance exam!  What you're taking is ten times harder!"

"That's not the point!  I just barely passed the SeeD exam when _I _took it!"

"Sorry."

"Hyne!  I thought you were a friend!"

"You thought wrong," Squall leaned against the wall and Zell said nothing more.  In a brooding way, he looked back down at his test, he hadn't resigned to himself giving up…yet.  

A few minutes passed, and Zell reluctantly held up his hand.  "I'm not giving you the answer, Zell," Squall said.

"I know, I know.  I just wanted to go to the bathroom!"

"Go, then."  Squall jerked his head in the direction of the door.  "Five minutes, Dincht."

"Right…right.  Five minutes, gotcha," and he ran out of the door.

Squall continued to supervise all the while keeping an eye on the clock.  True to his word, exactly five minutes later Zell returned.  But, he walked in a little too suspiciously for being a chickenwuss that had _just_ gone to the little boys room.  Not only was he walking suspiciously like a spy would in a stereotypical spy movie, it looked as if he was carrying something big and black behind his back.

When Zell was sure that Squall wasn't looking (which he was but Zell really isn't very perceptive), Zell dropped the case, opening it up as quickly and quietly as he could, and pulled out his saxophone.  His case lay open in next to his desk, inside of it had a sign that said, 'Gil for the pathetic SeeD'.  

Quistis and Squall traded glances, then looked back at Zell, who was now playing such melodies as 'Dance with the Balamb Fish'.  

"I'm done dealing with him, your turn," Squall sighed.

Quistis tried to stifle her laughter, then she walked over to Zell.  "Ahem, Zell…I'm sorry, but you'll have to practice your saxophone another time.  Put it up, now," she said, trying to sound cross.

"But it helps me think!" he whined, then his face brightened up.  It was apparent that he just had an idea.  Beaming, he put the saxophone down and dug through his book bag, finally pulling out the Garden Student Handbook.  He shoved it into Quistis' arms.

"Wha-?"

"Go on, find the part where it says 'no musical instruments during exams'!" 

All of the students turned their heads and watched, wondering if the renowned Quistis would lose to the 'chickenwuss'.  The Instructor merely chuckled, placed her hand to her forehead and shook her head.  Then, surprisingly, she started to flip through the Handbook.  

"See?  Told ya s-!" Zell smirked, but he was interrupted when Quistis flashed a page in front of him, pointing to a certain paragraph.  

"Read it aloud, Mr. Dincht."

Blushing, he did as he was told, "No making of any noise whatsoever during exams…"

"And, would practicing your saxophone be considered noise?"

Zell looked appalled, "No!  It's music!  Clinical researches prove that listening to instrumental music is good for your brain and helps people think more clearly!"

Quistis smiled again, "Those are awfully big words for you, Zell," she joked.  "Just put up your horn, and-"

"Shit!  Stupid f**king exam!  Son of a _bitch!  _Who the hell would ask such a f**king dumbass question like that!!?"   All eyes were now on the other side of the room, where it seemed as if one of the SeeDs had come down with a severe case of Turret's syndrome.  

"Squall, take care of him!" Quistis yelled to the sitting Commander, then she looked back to Zell who had already began to play a new song on his saxophone.  Sure enough, Squall got up to handle the situation.

"Man, what a day to be taking a test!  This could easily be turned into a sitcom!" Sae mumbled to herself, though it was too quietly for anyone to hear.  Her legs and butt hurt from sitting so long.  Not only that, but she did not want to take the test in any way, shape, or form.  So, she decided on trying to pull the last of Squall and Quistis' strings.  

"The wave everyone!  Do the wave!"

People's necks were starting to hurt, and/or they were getting whiplash from turning their heads so fast.  Unfortunately, no one in the room seemed interested in doing the wave with Sae, except for Arisu who realized what her friend was trying to do.  

After the saxophone was confiscated from Zell, the SeeD stopped shouting profanities, and Sae and Arisu had sat back down, Squall walked over to Quistis, whispered something in her ear, then he left the room.  He wasn't gone very long, but when he returned, it seemed as if everyone gulped simultaneously.  

In his hands he was carrying duct tape, and lots of it.  No one dared ask what he intended to do with it, they each had a pretty good idea.  The rest of the exam seemed to move pretty smoothly.  Everyone concentrated on finishing before the time limit, except for Seifer.

"Ten minutes left!" Quistis announced, looking at her watch.  "When you're finished, put your exams in the appropriate basket, then you may leave.  Results will be posted somewhere between noon and one.  Everyone, try your hardest to finish…that means you too, Seifer."

The blond rolled his eyes and took his feet off of the top of the table.  "Better get crackin' then…"

"How do you expect to finish your exam when you haven't even been working on it?" Quistis sighed.  

"You'll see my dear Instructor," he cooed.  From the looks of it, he was just filling in random bubbles.  

Slowly, everyone was walking to the front of the room and dropping off their tests, mumbling to each other how about how thankful they were that it was finally over.  

"Five minutes…" Squall warned.

Seifer stood up triumphantly and dumped his test into Quistis' hands instead of the basket.  "And I even got it done early," he grinned.

The Instructor rolled her eyes and scanned over the test, surprisingly from what she had seen, a lot of it appeared to be correct.  As a matter of fact, most if not all of the answers were correct.

"How?  How did you-?  B…B-but…how?"

"It's my seventeenth time taking this test, I memorized the answers."  Then he walked out of the room, carrying himself in a cocky manner.  The last of the students left after him.  

"Well, that was interesting, wouldn't you say, Squall?"

"Whatever.  I'm going to bed."

"Sleeping?  On your day off?  Surely you can think of something better to do?"

"Nope.  Bye."

Quistis watched as he walked away, and sighed, "Same old Squall."  Humming to herself, she picked up the last of her belongings and put them in her desk.  "I think I'll see Selphie before I have to report for Field Exam duties…"

Rocks started whimpering and pawing at the door.  "I know you don't have to go to the bathroom.  We just got back from the Training Center ten minutes ago."  Selphie called over her shoulder.  She knew the dog wanted to get out of her cramped dorm, as a matter of fact Selphie felt the same way.  "I'm almost done, Rocks.  Then I'll take you training with me!"

It seemed as if the dog was able to understand her, he started wagging his tail and then he ran over to her bed, jumped on to it and lay down.  He was watching her intently, his tail flopping left and right, waiting for her to put down her pencil and pick up his leash.  

Selphie continued to work on some design ideas.  To her left her radio was playing some rock music softly, to her right her digital clock was blinking 2:57.  She knew that the SeeD candidates were probably getting ready to leave for Timber.  She smiled as she imagined the looks on Sae and Arisu's faces as they left for their first mission.

Rocks began barking impatiently.  "Okay!  Okay!"  She added the finished touches to the designs and held them away from her so she could see them at a distance.  "Perfecto!" she applauded herself.  "What do you think?" She showed the thumbnails she had drawn to Rocks.  The golden retriever barked and jumped off of the bed, then he ran to the door.

"Hold on!  I'll take you training, but let me show these to Cid first."

She kneeled down beside her dog, kissed him on the head and slung her backpack over her shoulder.  "Be back in a bit.  And Rocks, this time stay out of my makeup." The dog sadly walked over to his corner and curled into a ball.  "Don't try to make me feel bad!  I'll be back!"   

Smiling, she shut the door to her dorm behind her, locked it and walked over in the direction of the elevator.  It was a long walk but she didn't pass very many people.  Because of the exam, only about one out of every five people were actually in the Garden building.

"Hey, Selphie!" someone said from behind.  She recognized the voice to be one of the junior classmen that she tutored.  She was all dressed up in her Garden uniform and her black and gold hair was pulled back into a bun.

"why, if it isn't Kacina Owens?" Selphie winked, "How'd you do on your exam?"

"I got a 97%!"

"That's my student!" Selphie exclaimed, giving her a high five.  "Way to go Kace!" 

"We just got our squad assignments for the field exam."

"Oh?  What did you get?"

"…Squad leader…" she mumbled, looking at her feet.  

"That's great!  Who all is in your squad?"

"Well, there's Sae and Arisu…"

"You should've have too much trouble with them," Selphie laughed.

"They're not who I'm worried about though."

"Who has you worried then?"

"Seifer is in my squad too."

"Oh…" Selphie racked her brain for something she could say to encourage her, but she was at a loss.  If she were in charge of Seifer she would be worried too.

"Do you know who your SeeD supervisor is?" she changed subjects.

Kacina shook her head.  "We aren't supposed to know, and they aren't supposed to reveal themselves unless something goes wrong."

"Well, good luck!  I know you'll do awesome!  You're already the top of your class."

"Thanks.  Bye, Selphie!  See you at next week's tutoring lesson!"

Selphie watched Kacina walk away and wondered why she wanted tutoring.  She was already such a smart girl.  "Hurry!" the SeeD called after her, "You don't want to miss your train!"

When Selphie reached the top of the stairs that lead to the elevator, she heard a cry of "High ho, Silver!" Then saw Seifer running for the entrance with Sae and Arisu following behind.  Sae was pointing forward and screaming, "Awaaayyy!"

"We're gonna miss the train!!" Arisu was panicking as she strapped her dagger sheath onto her belt and ran.

"Man, this is gonna suck.  The weather channel said that Timber has been experiencing storms on and off all day," Seifer complained.  The trio disappeared out the doors.

"Kacina is going to have her hands full," Selphie laughed and stepped into the elevator.  The metallic doors shut and she felt the contraption jerk upward.

She started imagining what it would be like when Cid saw her thumbnails and how hard she worked on them.  She was definitely proud of them!

**_"Hello, Cid!" _**

**_"Why, Selphie!  I didn't expect to see you back so soon!  Is there anything you need?"_**

**_"No.  I just wanted to show you my progress."  _She would place the designs in front of him.  _"Which one do you want to put on the shirts?"_**

**_"Selphie!  These are amazing!  I have never seen anything so creative!  The colors stand out, the designs are unique…I couldn't possibly pick just one!  We'll print them all off!"_**

**_"You flatter me!"_**

**_"You are truly a very talented and capable SeeD!  I'm going to raise your rank to A!"_**

**_"Rank A!!?"_**

**_"Yes, and you will be getting quite the pay-raise as well…"_**

Suddenly the flickering of the elevator's lights stopped her fantasizing, then the elevator jerked violently before stopping all together.  The elevator was pitch-black.

"Huh?  What's going on?" she shrieked.  She _hated _being in dark cramped spaces.  Almost as quickly as the lights flickered off, they came back.

"Teachers, we apologize for the interruption," an intercom spoke from far away, it was barely distinguishable from the inside of the elevator.  "Garden just experienced a power surge and temporarily lost power.  If you were using the classroom terminals please wait about ten minutes before turning them back on.  Again, we apologize for the interruption."

"Okay, so the elevator should start back up…any second now…" Selphie waited and waited, but the elevator was no longer responding.  She sighed and sat on he floor.  "Where's the emergency phone?" she began looking around.

"Come on, all elevators have emergency phones for this reason!  Aha!  Found one!"

She pulled the phone out and it immediately dialed the programmed number.

Meanwhile up in the cockpit, Nida was steering the Garden as he did everyday.  He had dropped off all of the junior classmen off outside of Balamb so they could ride the rain to Timber, now he was piloting the Garden over the ocean.  

He loved the ocean it was big…and blue…like the Garden…he liked Garden too.  As he hummed 'The Sailor's Hornpipe' the telephone to his left started ringing.  

"Hey, Xu!  Xu!" he yelled.

"I'm busy!" she answered from her desk outside the cockpit, "you get it."

Trying his hardest to keep one of his hands on the steering wheel, he leaned to his left, extending his arm and trying with all his might to grasp the ringing phone.  Finally he managed to grab it.

"Hello?" he answered, trying to stay balanced in his awkward position.

"Who's this?" came the voice on the other line.

"You called me!"

"Yeah…umm…oh wait!  Is this Nida?"

"Yes."

"This is Selphie!  How's your head?  I heard that Sae and Arisu nailed you with a thirty pound barbell."

"Better.  Nothing too serious.  Is there a specific reason why you called?  I'm trying to steer Garden and this makes it sort of difficult."

"Oh, yeah!  Well…um…I was in the elevator during the power surge, and it never started back up.  Is there any way you can operate it manually from up there?"

"I'm not sure.  Here, I'll page Xu."  Nida looked to his right, that's where the page button was, but the cord on the phone restricted how far he could move.  Not only that, but he still had to steer Garden.  It was very easy to get lost at open sea when one isn't paying attention.

He stretched his right foot out to his side and started kicking at the pager button until he finally managed to press it.

"What, Nida?  I said I was busy," Xu said, walking into the cockpit.  When she saw Nida's position she rolled her eyes.

"We have a situation with the elevator.  Selphie's stuck in it because of the power surge."

Xu nodded, "I'll inform Cid and ask him what to do.  In the meantime keep talking to her and make sure she stays calm."

"B-But!  I'm steering!"

"Put her on speakerphone!"

"I've run out of limbs to do that with!"

Xu approached him and took the phone from him.  Nida stood back in a comfortable position.  

"Hello, Selphie.  Is everything all right?" Xu asked her.

"Yeah.  It's not like it's dark.  But I promised Rocks I'd be back soon."

"He'll understand.  We'll try to get you out of there as fast as we can.  Nida is going to stay on the line with you, all right?  I'm going to tell the Headmaster and we'll get one of the technicians on it in no time!"

"Okay."

Xu smiled wearily and pressed the speakerphone button.  "I'll be back to tell you what is happening later," then she left the cockpit.

"So, Selph.  How's life treatin' ya?"

"Not bad.  I can't complain.  It's just…I'm trapped here…with no food, no water and very little air."

"You'll be fine.  Oh, and what's this I hear about a party?  Why wasn't I invited?"

"You were unconscious," she laughed.

"I see how it is."

"…How long do you think I have before I run out of air?"  Nida could tell she was paranoid.

"What all do you have with you?  Maybe you can bust out by yourself."

"Hmm…" he heard her dig through her bag, "One pixie stick…broke, a pen, lots of paper, a hairbrush…"

"Let's put it this way.  What kind of magic do you have junctioned?  And before you say 'Ifrit' I'll warn you now, DON'T SUMMON A GF IN THERE!"

Selphie looked at her feet.  She was _very _proud of her fire based GF, but she knew that she couldn't summon him.  Nida continued to lecture her on all of the reasons why summoning a GF would be a bad idea.

"I haven't done a lot of training lately…and most of the magic I have junctioned is very powerful and left over from when we traveled around the world a couple months ago…"

"Like what?"

"Ultima…"  Immediately, Nida panicked and started to list off even more reasons why using Ultima would be disastrous, but she didn't need to hear that.  She knew that if she used Ultima, in an elevator at that, the janitors would be scraping her remains off the walls for weeks.  "Um…Meteor…but that would end up being like dodge ball, only deadly.  And I've never been good at dodge ball…"

"Do you have any simple spells?  Something that cause minimal bodily harm?"

Selphie thought for a few seconds.  "Thundaga…"  This caused Nida to sigh exasperatedly.  "Seriously!  That's my weakest offensive magic!"

"You don't have any normal thunder spells?"

"Nope!  When Squall's GF learned 'Third level magic refine' I was all over it!"

"Apparently."

"Well, electricity got me into this mess, it'll just have to get me out.  Besides, maybe the electricity in the spell will jump-start the wires."

"No, wait!  Selphie!  Don't cast Thun-"

"THUNDAGA!" He heard her cry.  The sound of unmistakable thunder resonated through the cockpit (coming from the speakerphone), followed by a high, terrified scream.  After that, the line went dead.

"Selphie?  Selphie!!?  SELPHIE!  ANSWER ME!" Nida yelled desperately in the direction of the phone.  No response came, just a puff of black smoke from the speaker.  Eyes widened in horror, the pilot kicked desperately at Xu's page button, all the while screaming, "XU!  XU!  GET IN HERE!"

The brown-haired SeeD came running, "What's wrong now?" she asked between breaths.

"We've lost contact with Selphie!" he yelled desperately.

"What happened?" she asked, running over to the phone.

"She cast a third level thunder spell, attempting to jump-start the wires."

"Thunder?  Third level!!?  What kind of an idiot casts thunder in an elevator?  That elevator is made of metal!  She runs a one in three chance of being electrocuted!"

"You think I don't know that!?  I tried to stop her!"

Xu was anxiously fumbling around with the phone cords, unplugging and re-plugging certain wires.  Then the cockpit was once more filled with noise, be it from Xu's efforts or another reason.  Static sizzled on the speakers and the two SeeDs were also able to distinguish the sounds of electricity surging.

"Selphie?  Are you still there?" Xu said, trying her hardest to stay calm.

Nida leaned closer to the phone, listening intently.

"Oh, Hyne…" came a faint murmur from the speakers.  "Please, deliver me through this, I'm sorry for everything I've ever done…"

Xu clutched her chest and let out a sigh of relief.  "She's still alive."

"Hurry and tell Cid!  We need to get her out of there!"

"He's in a meeting with Martine in his office, the door is locked.  He should be done soon though."

"Why can't you page him?  This _is _an emergency."

"I tried.  I think he turned his pager off."

"Oh, Hyne…" Nida shook his head as Xu walked away, then looking back at the phone (and keeping his hands on the steering stick) asked, "Selphie, can you hear me?"

"I'm sorry for everything!  I'm sorry about tricking the Shumi away from their Ultima drawpoint so I could draw without paying…"

"Nida?  _What _is going on?" Quistis was now standing behind him.  "I had to _walk_ up here because the elevator wasn't responding.  I waited for ten minutes!  Do you have any idea how steep those stairs are!!?"

"Selphie's stuck, she just used a thunder spell, she can't hear us anymore, but she's still alive," Nida explained quickly.

"What!?"

"And I'm sorry for sticking gum in Quistis' hair back in the orphanage, and then cutting it out."

"I FORGIVE YOU, SELPHIE!"

"And I'm sorry for accidentally hitting that moomba with my nunchuck while training.  I'm sorry for putting wasabe in Nida's hotdog…"

"That was her!?"

"I'm sorry for throwing Zell's back out when I jumped on him trying to get away from a Funguar.  I'm sorry for kicking Irvine in the balls…actually, I'm not sorry, but forgive me anyway!  He deserved it!"

"She's too far away from the phone to hear us," Quistis said, thoughtfully.  "She probably knew she had to stay away from the walls, so she moved to the center of the elevator."

"And I'm sorry for ruining Squall and Rinoa's relationship, but even if it is wrong, please help me through this!  I want to see him again.  Even if he doesn't feel the same way about me, I love him.  Yes, Hyne!  I admit my love for Squall Leonhart!"

"That's it.  It must be the lack of air.  I think she just lost it," Nida shook his head sadly.

"I'm sure she is still perfectly sane," Quistis smiled.

Xu walked back in.  "Nida, we need to get her attention, Cid is now trying to get one of the technicians who aren't busy to get her out."  Then she turned to the blond Instructor and smiled, "Hi, Quistis.  When did you get here?"

"Not too long ago."

"Hey, you want to help me out?  I'm supposed to talk to the technician when he gets here and I need someone to take calls at my desk."  Reluctantly, Quistis left the speakerphone.

"Okay, I have a plan.  I'll just have to yell as loud as I can on the count of three.  One, two…"

Eyes shut tight, Selphie continued to mouth her prayer.  Electricity was still surging through the elevator's metallic walls and every few seconds the button panel would spit sparks at her.  SeeD training really came in handy in t his situation.  _Something like this should be the field exam, _she told herself.  Training had given her the knowledge to cast shell and reflect on herself.  That way the thunder spell wasn't so much of a threat, that is as long as they lasted.

"Please…please…" she repeated quietly.  Her mind was screaming for help.

"Selphie?" a distant voice called.

"Hyne!!?  Is it really you?  Oh please, oh please, oh please save me!"

"Get closer to the phone," the voice demanded.

_What a strange order…_But she did as she was told.

"It's me, Nida."

"Nida?  You're Hyne!?"

"No.  We thought we lost you.  What's your current status?"

"Hungry," she replied, being sure to not get too close to the phone that dangled out of the box it had been stored in.  She didn't want to be electrocuted.

"Sorry, can't help you there," Nida said, static overlapping his words.

"Nida, if I die in here, I want you to deliver my eulogy, since you were the last person I talked to."

"Don't talk like that!" he scolded her.  "Quistis was just in here a few seconds ago, but she left with Xu so she could talk to the technician.  You'll be out of there in thirty minutes, tops."

"That's great!  But in case something horrible happens, you're the man, Nida.  You deliver my eulogy."

"O-Okay, Selph," he said uneasily.

"Better get some paper and a pen, 'cuz I'm gonna tell you what to say."  She heard him scramble for something.  "You ready?"

"Uh…y-yeah.  I guess."

"Okay.  Tell Zell that it's okay to still wet the bed, and I'm sure that Rinoa will understand if she finds out.  Tell Squall that he doesn't need to be self-conscious about his pink cast, I think it's cute.  And tell Quisty that I'm going to need someone to take over the Garden Festival Committee in my stead and I want her to do it…"

"Nida!!  Who the hell is driving this thing!?" Xu's voice came through the phone.

"I'm busy!" he snarled.

Selphie felt the Garden swerve and then felt a jolt as it landed on solid ground once again.

"Sorry about that, Xu landed Garden.  What were you saying?"

"Okay…umm…" started to say something, but her head was beginning to throb.  "Tell Rinoa…"  Her own words seemed to echo in her brain.  She was running out of oxygen.  She blacked out and with a thud, landed on the floor.

"Selphie?  Selphie!!!?"  Nida's voice came from the helplessly dangling phone.  The girl was not able to answer.

"Squad B!  Your job is to secure all the shops in the southern part of town!  Squad C!  You are positioned by Timber Maniacs," Rinoa barked orders.  She was practically having to scream to project her voice over the sound of rain slapping against streets and the tops of buildings and trains.

"Eliminate all monsters within _your _area, not a different Squads'.  Points will be deducted for leaving your area unless ordered by your leader.  However, the leader will need a valid reason to leave as well."  The brunette stopped pacing in front of the SeeDs (as she had seen her father do to his Galbadian troops) and smiled.  "Best of luck to all of you.  As most of you know the order to withdraw takes priority.  A messenger will be sent to inform you of the evacuation time.  Tardiness in unacceptable.  If you are late getting back to the vessel, more points will be deducted.  Good luck!"

With a salute, all of the candidates ran to the area they were supposed to patrol.

"Where we goin' captain Kace?" Sae beamed.

"Um…Miss Heartilly said as Squad A we need to secure the train station.  So, move out!"

The four SeeD candidates ran until they reached the station.

"There won't be any damn monsters here unless they intend to catch the train to Galbadia," Seifer rolled his eyes and sat on a crate.

To Seifer, this was standard procedure.  The pressure didn't bother him, but Kacina was freaking out.  "O-Okay.  Sae and Arisu, you keep watch at the entrance.  If you see anything let us know."

The two girls saluted and ran to where they had been ordered.  Rain continued to pour, making it difficult to see.

"This sucks," Arisu complained loudly.  "I would much rather be stuck in study hall than here!"

"I totally agree!"  It was silent for awhile, as the two boringly watched for monsters.

"Sae!  Arisu!  Over here!" Kacina cried.   Hurriedly, they ran back to where she and Seifer stood.

"What is it?"

Kace pointed to a Wendigo hiding near a trashcan.  "We have to get rid of it, right?" she stated, strapping on her brass knuckles.  Seifer drew his gunblade, Arisu her daggers, and Sae her shurikan.  Before anyone else, Seifer charged and brought the beast down in a fierce attack.

"Wow!  Great job!" Kace said.

"That was no fun.  I'm sure Weak and Weaker could've killed that son of a bitch without a problem."  He began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Kace asked.

"To find some real competition."

"No you don't," she said, stepping in his way.  "As your Squad leader I order you to stay."

"Do you think that's ever stopped me before?"  Just as he was getting ready to push past her, they heard a shriek from behind.

"Incoming!" Arisu yelled.  Kace and Seifer looked at the girls confusedly, then looked back up to see an Elnoyle. 

"Where the hell'd that come from!?  Those are native to Esthar!" Seifer exclaimed.

From within a building, Renee had been watching Squad A.  This was _not _what she had in mind when she volunteered.  The only benefit was getting to watch Seifer.  When she say the flying fiend she immediately consulted the paper that had a list of reasons to help the candidates (complete with mini-beastiary).  She ran her finger down the list until she saw Elnoyle.

"Shit," she swore.  Then, grabbing the hilt of her katana, ran out to help them.  An Elnoyle was _way _too advanced for them to be fighting at their stage.  

Seifer wasn't having too hard of a time keeping up, but the girls were having problems evading the fiend's attacks.  Already, they had taken severe damage and Sae's support magic wasn't helping too much.  Too sore to attack, Arisu was pummeling the monster with all of the magic she had available.  Kace and Seifer were the only two that were attacking.

Everyone was getting weaker until suddenly they were healed.  Renee came running, she had apparently used a Megalixir.  "Gee Ren, are we glad to see you!" Sae said, sounding relieved.

"Just doing my job!" she yelled.  "Everyone, if you have a protect spell, I suggest you use it now!"

In unison, everyone did as they were told.  "Kace, as Squad leader, we await your orders."

"Wha-?  You're a SeeD!" Kace complained.  When Renee didn't say anything she racked her brain, "Attack like crazy!" she finally said.

"Yes, ma'am," Seifer shouted.

After a few rounds of attacking and Renee's high level GF, the Elnoyle was defeated.  "You'll be getting…a lot…of gil…for that one…" Renee said between breaths.  She brought a potion bottle to her lips and downed the pink liquid, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then stood up to leave.

"You can't leave us!" Arisu yelled, grabbing Renee's arm.

"I'm sorry, I'm supposed to only supervise."  The SeeD sheathed her katana and started to walk back to her building.

"Hey, Renee!" Seifer yelled after her.  She turned around, her wet brown hair sticking to her face.  "You're an awesome fighter."

"Thanks."

"Got a date for the inauguration ceremony?"

Renee felt her face burn red as she vigorously shook her head.  "I'll pick you up at seven," he winked.  Beaming, Renee walked off.

"You know, Seifer, in order to go to the party you have to pass the exam…" Kace reminded him.

"Don't worry, I _will _pass."

"That's what you said _last _time," Sae chided.  

"Yeah, and the time before that, and the time before that…"

"Squall?" the intercom blared, interrupting his nap.  The Commander rolled over in his bed and stared angrily at the speaker.

"What?"

"You are the only technician available we need you in the office ASAP.  Don't eve bother changing," Cid's voice droned on, "We have a crisis."

"Okay," Squall mumbled, throwing his feet over the side of his bed.  He heard the intercom click off.  "Damn, some day off," he groaned, pulling on his boots.  Before he left, he threw his sling over his arm, grabbed his jacket and ran out the door.

Xu met him at the office, a worried look across her face.  She looked torn, almost as if she wasn't sure whether she should tell him something.

"What's the crisis?"

"We may have had a fatality in the elevator.  It was stuck and she cast Thundaga."

_She?  She who?  _"What kind of an idiot casts a thunder spell when surrounded by metal?" he asked.  Xu didn't reply.  The was too busy freaking out for other reasons.

"Oh no!  I forgot your arm was broken!  You can't do anything if your arms in a cast!  Quistis!  Call Kadowaki, tell her to get up here, stat!  We're taking his cast off!"

Quistis nodded and picked up the phone.

"What?  I just broke it a few days ago!"

"Don't you worry about that."

"I _am _worried, it's _my _arm!" he shot back.

"Look, I have a friend who is a very talented alchemist, he lives in Shumi Village.  The Shumis taught him a lot, and he swears that this medicine he mixed will fix _any _breakage.  I haven't tried any yet because I only have a few.  So, if you will _please _cooperate, we can test this out," Xu pleaded.

Squall sighed and nodded.  "Where's Cid?  And _who _am I supposed to be rescuing?"

Xu looked extremely uncomfortable, and she was known to be calm in the most extreme situations.  Something _had _to be wrong, but she said nothing.  Xu began pacing nervously, chanting, "C'mon, c'mon, hurry, hurry dammit!"

Suddenly the door leading up from the staircase flew open and in walked a furious Kadowaki.  "Xu, I must disagree!  He has a compound fracture, I will not allow you to remove his cast!"

"I have a potion to fix that, just take his cast off, he needs to helps someone who is trapped in the elevator."

Still looking unsure, the doctor pulled out a small saw and started sawing at the pink cast, all the while muttering about the recklessness of SeeDs.

"I'm not sure of the effects, so you'll be our guinea pig," Xu said, holding the vial to Squall's face.

"What!?  I'm not sure this is such a good idea…" he said slowly.

"Well, it's too late to go back now.  The cast is off," Kadowaki announced.

Still, he had his doubts.  When Xu noticed this, she yelled, "Hyne!  Do it for Selphie!"  When the words escaped her lips, she gasped and covered her mouth.

Squall's eyes widened and he grabbed the bottle from the SeeD's outstretched hands.  "How much of this stuff to I drink?" he asked.

"The whole bottle, and he warned me that it doesn't taste too good."

He ignored her warning and downed the potion.  The bitter liquid rushed down his through and left a horrid aftertaste.  

"How long before it kicks in?"

"I don't know.  Um…try moving your arm," Xu suggested.

"If it doesn't work he could injure himself further," Kadowaki warned.

Squall didn't care though.  Selphie was in danger, and as Xu had said when he first arrived, possibly dead.  No!  He refused to believe it.  Not Selphie.  She couldn't die!  He had to save her!

Determinedly, he bent his left arm at the elbow and to his amazement it felt normal.  As if it had never been broken in the first place.

"Tell your friend thanks, Xu!" he said, throwing his coat on the floor.  

"You know how to get to her, right?"

"Yeah, I'll manage."  He opened the door and started to run down the stairs when Xu stopped him again.

"Oh!  You'll need this!"  She threw him a bangle.  "It's made by Dr. Odine, it nullifies all lightning based magic."

Squall nodded and put it on as he continued to run down the stairs.  He exited through the door that lead to the second floor and ran to the elevator, all the while telling himself that Selphie was alive.  She would smile and say, "I thought no one would ever come!" or "It's about time!"

He opened the elevator doors manually and looked down into the depression.  The elevator was about ten feet below, and even from the outside he could see the thunder spell surging through the wires.  He took a step back, then leapt forward and slid down the cable.  His boots came in contact with the metallic roof of the elevator.  The trap door was located near to where he landed and he eagerly opened it.  He shoved his head through the opening and allowed his eyes to scan over the inside of the capsule.  His eyes finally landed on the tiny SeeD laying motionless on the floor.  "Selphie!" he exclaimed.  The sight of her nearly made him fall in as well.

Her face was ghostly white and se lay in a pitiful heap in the middle of the elevator.  "Hyne, no, she can't be dead," he said to himself.  He tied a cord around a metallic lever and lowered it into the elevator through the door, hoping it would be sturdy enough to hold both him and Selphie.

Selphie felt as if her body was not responding at all.  This wasn't her first time passing out, she had a history of it, but it was the first time it happened in such an extreme situation.  She could feel someone pick her up and carry her out of the hellhole.

Her rescuer was talking to her, though she didn't understand him.  His words echoed in her head and was mixed with the sounds of electricity surging through many live wires.

Her head was buzzing and swarming with questions.  Still, without any control over her limbs, she allowed him to carry her limp body.

She felt cold stone under her bare skin again, and she knew that she was out of the elevator, though she was unsure where.  The ground next to her was moving, or more like vibrating, and the sound of many footsteps and voices were coming her way.

Someone pressed their ear against her chest.  "She's still alive!" he announced.  Slowly, she was able to distinguish voices, the buzzing stopped and she new she was getting ready to come to.

"But she's so pale!  She looks blue!  I don't think she's breathing!"

"Back!  Get back everyone!"  She recognized the voice to be Squall's.  Was he her rescuer?  Before she could open her eyes she felt two massive hands pry her mouth open, one plugged her nose and the other held her chin.  "Oh Hyne, Selphie…I hope this works!"

Someone's mouth was on hers, breathing air into her.  Now, with her body responding again, she was able to open her eyes.  Slowly she barely opened one to see Squall, he was trying to resuscitate her, she was also surrounded by a handful of junior classmen.

The attention she was getting from Squall astonished her, so she quickly shut her eyes and pretended to still be passed out.  He wasn't kissing her, but it was close enough.  She wanted to enjoy him this close to her as long as she could.

Squall continued to perform the CPR, only coming up for more air to transfer to her.  "Wake up…" he was pleading quietly between breaths.  "Please, be all right!"  With that, he blew all of the air that he had into her, in hopes that it would help her.

However, Squall's lungs were much bigger than hers, thus their air capacity was larger as well.  The amount of oxygen was so overwhelming she immediately sat up and began choking on the thin air.

"Oh, thank God!" Squall exclaimed, pulling her in to hug him.

A sigh of relief swept through everyone who had been watching.

"Are you okay?  Are you hurt?  Do you feel sick?"

"Squall?  Are _you _feeling okay?" she asked.  That sounded most uncharacteristic of the Balamb Garden Commander. Several of the students giggled and few girls 'awed'.

"Uh…yeah…sorry…"

Selphie smiled and stood up.  She still felt slightly dizzy, so she held a hand to her forehead.

"I'm taking you to Kadowaki's office."

"But…"

"You can lean on me."

*          *          *          *          *          *            *          *          *          *          *

Awww…isn't Squall just the sweetest guy EVER!!?  ^o^  Well, we hope this keeps everyone content for awhile.  (We are still in need of Beta-Readers if anyone is interested) and if you have any ideas then email us at CuteMooglez@hotmail.com!

Selphie's Chapter Seven To-Do List….

            *Force Squall against his will to attend the SeeD inauguration ball 

            *Break up a catfight between good and evil…or…um…be a part of it

            *Go on a top secret SeeD mission to prove herself!!


	7. Chapter 7

((Re-uploaded with corrections))

A/N: How many different ways can one say 'wow'?!  The response we're getting for this story is surprising!  Welcome all readers!  We're very happy that you're enjoying it so far, and we only hope that you continue to enjoy it.  ^o^  

**Grasshopper2: **Welcome back!  It's been a while since you've been on ff.net.  We're glad to hear from you again.  ^o^

**Nammi-chan: **Ahh…Squalphies, aren't they the most addictive substance on earth?  Hehe. 

**Selphie108, A fire Inside Girl: **Your questions shall be answered in this chapter.  

**Jordan Herrick: **The way you wrote that was uber funny!  And we have to say that we totally agree.  We can't stand Irvine, and he is a wuss (we came to this conclusion when he chickened out trying to shoot the sorceress, good intentions or not).  But don't you worry, like I said, much more Irvine bashing to come.  ^o^

**deathmuffin: **Thanks for the compliments!  We hope you continue to enjoy the story as much as you have been.

Chapter 7

With a sigh, Kadowaki plopped down into her cushioned office chair.  She glanced at the paperwork that had piled up on her desk and took a swig from her coffee mug as her eyes scanned over the small print.

"Dr. Kadowaki," a voice came from the doorway.

The doctor looked up over her rectangular glasses.  "Yes?"

"I was training in the Training Center and cut myself on my dagger," the young man explained, extending an arm to show off his wound.  He had ripped part of his shirt off and tied it around the gash on his upper arm, but the fabric that was once white was now a dark shade of crimson.

"Well, you sure did cut yourself.  You know, you're supposed to cut _monsters _with your weapon."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, averting his gaze to the floor.

"Come over here and we'll wash that off," she said, pushing her chair back and walking to the sink.  "How deep is the cut?"

"Pretty deep," he grimaced as she peeled the fabric away from the injury.

"Run it under cold water," she instructed him, "I'll be right back with some gauze."

The student nodded and Kadowaki disappeared into her supply closet.  "Kids these days are so reckless," she grumbled quietly and returned with some gauze and an antiseptic.  She turned the faucet off and looked at the boy.

"This is going to sting," she warned as she sprayed the antiseptic over the wound, "But it will help prevent infection."

Just as she started to wrap his arm, someone else burst through the door.

"Please take a seat, I'll be with you shortly," she said without bothering to look behind her to see who it was.

"It's an emergency," said a familiar voice.

"What is it this time, Squall?" Still she didn't turn around.

"Take a look for yourself," he said.

Kadowaki pried her eyes away from the boy's arm to look over her shoulder.  Squall stood in the doorway with Selphie on his back, holding on to her thin legs.  One of her lank arms draped over his shoulder and hung in front of him.  Though she was conscious, her face was still white as paper.

"Oh, Hyne," the doctor muttered, dropping the gauze.  "I'm sorry," she looked at the boy, "could you finish wrapping your own arm?"

He nodded and she ran to one of the recovery rooms and threw the door open.  A girl was lying down in the bed.

"Up, up, up!" the doctor demanded.

"But, Dr. Kadowaki, I still don't feel good," she complained.  

"Go sit down in the office, Ms. Tilmitt needs your bed."

Still upset about leaving, the girl got up and walked out.

"Lie her down on the bed, Squall."

"Seriously, I'm fine, take me back to my dorm," Selphie said weakly as Squall laid her down.  "I need…to feed…my dog."

"You are in no condition," Kadowaki said quickly, then turning to Squall, asked, "What exactly happened?"

"She passed out in the elevator."

"Judging by how pale she is, her blood sugars must be low.  Squall, in my desk I have some peanut butter and crackers that I keep for the diabetics, bring in a package for her.  Now, Selphie, did you eat breakfast this morning?"

"Yes."

"Lunch?"

"…No."

"Selphie, we've been through this.  You're hypoglycemic, if you skip meals, this is what happens."

"I didn't 'skip' it," she argued, "I was going to get something after I talked with Cid, I didn't expect to be stuck in an elevator for an hour."

"I know, Selphie.  But next time, try to be prepared.  Carry a granola bar with you for 'emergency use'."  

"Yes ma'am," Selphie sighed.

Squall re-entered the recovery room and threw the crackers down in front of Selphie.  "All right, Squall.  Watch over her, if you need me I'll be helping the gentleman in there."

Kadowaki bustled out of the room leaving the two SeeDs alone.  Tiredly, Selphie sat up to pick up the crackers that landed at the foot of the bed.  Carefully she opened the package and leaning against the pillows, ate the small peanut butter sandwiches.

"She says the same thing every time this happens."

"Then why don't you do what she says?"

"I do for a while, but I get out of the habit," she sighed and snuggled deeper into her pillow.  "It isn't as simple as she makes it out to be."

Squall said nothing, only pulled a chair over next to the bed.  "Your face is gaining color again."  He reached forward and grasped her hand and for a second she felt as if she could die.  "But your hands are still cold."

She felt her cheeks redden intensely.  "It's always cold in the infirmary, though," she giggled.

Squall shrugged, "I don't think so."

Just then Selphie noticed something she hadn't before.  "Your arm!"

"Huh?"

"Your arm!  It was broken!  Why's it out of its cast?"

"Oh, a special potion Xu gave me."

"Nifty!" she grabbed his arm and examined it.  "Does it still hurt?"

"No."

"That's pretty cool," Selphie smiled.

"I'm just happy to be out of that cast."

Before anyone could say anything else, the intercom in the side of the room crackled and came to life.  "All SeeD candidates that participated in the exam today please assemble in your designated area.  Your results will be presented to you shortly."

"The SeeD exam!  Oh no!  The inauguration ball is going to start in…" she looked at the clock, "…fifteen minutes!"

Kadowaki ran in to the room.  "Selphie, I forbid you to leave until you have regained your strength.  Get some rest; the ball will be going on all night.  Oh, and Squall, I need your help."

"With what?"

"I'm going to be getting lots of patients in the next fifteen minutes.  I need some help setting up extra cots."

"I'll help," the boy with the wounded arm volunteered.

"Okay, never mind, Squall."

The two walked over the supply closet.  Squall sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Why are you still here?" Selphie asked.  Squall merely shrugged.  "You're the Commander!  You're supposed to deliver a speech at the ball."

"All the more reason not to go."

"But it would be fun!  Everyone would be there.  It wouldn't be fair for you to miss it."

"It isn't fair for you to either.  Besides, I don't really like going to these things anyway."

"Why not?  You could go and dance with a bunch of pretty girls," she teased.

"I'd feel bad if I left you here."

"I'll probably go eventually.  I'll get ready as soon as Kadowaki lets me leave.  It shouldn't be too much longer, she's going to be getting a lot of very injured Junior Classmen soon."

"Then I'll leave with you."

It was silent again and all Selphie could think was, _Is he just being nice?  Or is he really this worried about me?  _The silence hung between them for a long time, but this time it wasn't quite as uncomfortable.

"Here comes the first one," they heard Kadowaki say some time later.

Sure enough, a steady flood of candidates filed into the infirmary, most with minor injuries.  One however was carried in on a stretcher.

"What happened here?" Kadowaki asked the SeeDs who brought the wounded girl in.

"She was attacked by an Elnoyle, and she needs a blood transfusion, stat," a female SeeD answered.

"Elnoyle!?  What was an Elnoyle doing in Timber?"

"There were several, actually," the SeeD replied.  "We found that a man had somehow caged several and let them loose.  He's been taken into custody."

"All right, Selphie, you're free to leave.  Be more careful from now on!" the doctor instructed as she wheeled the young woman into the recovery room.

"Yes, doctor," she bowed her head and got up from the bed.

"What's her name and blood type?" the two heard as they exited the infirmary.

"Hope she's okay…" Selphie muttered, looking back at the girl covered in her own blood.  "I remember fighting Elnoyles and they don't go down easily."

"Do you remember our SeeD exam?  We had to fight an Elvoret, two Galbadian army officials, _and _I was chased out of town by a giant metallic spider."

"Of course I remember!  How could I forget that!?  I thought you were _dead!  _I _still _have nightmares about that stupid thing!"

Squall jammed his hands into his pockets and said nothing.

As the two approached the dormitories, Selphie glanced up at a clock.  "Woo!  Oh no!  It's almost seven thirty!  You're late and it's my fault!" She stopped walking and turned to point Squall in the chest.  "I told you to go ahead and leave!  Now you're late to give your speech!"

"Selph…"

"Why didn't you just go!?"

"Selph…"

"It wouldn't have offended me!"

With a sigh, Squall lifted her chin and kissed her lightly on the lips.  "I stayed because I wanted to."

That stopped Selphie's talking and she watched Squall disappear into the boys' dorms to change into his uniform.  Face burning red, she covered her mouth with two fingers and she could swear that her lips were still tingling.

In a daze of sorts, she stumbled into her dorm and automatically wished she could call someone and tell them what had just happened.  Unfortunately, everyone was at the ball.  Rocks watched her from his spot in the corner, wondering what she was so happy about.

Still smiling and blushing she turned on her radio and walked to her closet.  When a girl was accepted into SeeD, it was mandatory for her to wear her uniform for her inauguration ceremony.  After her first year, however, she could wear a formal gown to the ball.  Selphie found the dress she had purchased just for this occasion hanging in its protective bag and pulled it out of her closet.  It was a full-length, sleek black dress that was strapless.  The only decoration on the dress was three green stripes that wound from her upper thigh to her bust before tapering into points.

After slipping into her dress, she realized one problem.  There was no way she would be able to tie up the back by herself.  "This is great," she mumbled under her breath.  "Uh…" she began fumbling with the strings to no avail.  "I'll worry about it in a second!  I don't suppose you could help, could you Rocks?"  The dog sat up and looked at her, tongue hanging out of his mouth.  "Didn't think so."

Without bothering to tie up the back, she walked into her bathroom, sat down on her marble countertop and began to apply makeup.  Next, she straightened out her usual hairstyle.  Taking a last look in the mirror she turned off her bathroom light and shut the door.

"I guess I'll have Quisty tie it when I get to the party."

With a quick look around her room, she picked up her shawl, high-heels, and stuck her dorm key into her handbag.  "Ooh…I am _so _late!" she squealed, turning off the radio and running out the door, still carrying her accessories under her arm.

"Selphie?"

She stopped running and looked around.  Squall was leaning against the wall in his crisp SeeD uniform, and _damn, _she thought, _he looks good!  _

"What are you doing here?  You're supposed be giving your speech!"

Squall smiled at her but changed the subject.  "You know…your back isn't done right."

"Oh!  Yeah!  You can help me!  I couldn't tie it by myself!"

"But I don-"

"It's just like tying shoes!"

Squall walked over to stand behind her and yanked back on the strings only to hear Selphie gasp.  "Whoa!  Not so tight!  I need to be able to breathe!"

"Sorry."

She felt him loosen the strings, slightly, and tie it.  "Oh, thank you so much!" she sighed, then she started to run again.  "Come on!  We're already an hour late!  I wanna see who all made the cut!"

"You still don't have shoes on…" he stated slowly.

"Apparently you've never run in high heels!"

"No…I can't say that I have…  But why run?  It's no more than a five minute walk."

She looked around the vicinity then responded with, "I didn't think of that."  Immediately she stopped running and slipped into her heels, situated the shawl around her shoulders and lastly began putting in her earrings.

Squall merely walked next to her and wondered how she could do all of this so quickly when he must've been waiting outside her dorm for more than fifteen minutes.

Finally they reached the dimly lit Quad and at the entrance Xu was waiting for them.  Her black hair was done nicely in an up-do and she wore a long, elegant silver dress.

"Selphie!!" she exclaimed, hugging her.  "We were so worried about you!  Is everything okay?  You look great!"

"Thanks, you look awesome too, Xu."

"Oh, and Squall," the SeeD smiled at him, "Cid has been pacing for the last forty five minutes.  I think you better hurry up and deliver your speech before he gives himself an ulcer."

"Fine," he grumbled.  Selphie could tell he was neither excited nor happy about it in the slightest.  The racket of dozens of people talking quieted down as Squall stepped up to the podium.  Cid looked up from his pacing and all of the muscles in his face seemed to relax.  

"Oh, thank Hyne," the headmaster breathed.

"Congratulations all candidates who passed today's exam," Squall said boringly into the microphone, scanning the Quad.  "I don't enjoy giving speeches, I'm not very good at it, so I won't sugar coat anything.  You are SeeDs; trained mercenaries.  From here on out life will become more dangerous, you all know this, as I'm sure you were aware when you took the test."

From the audience, Sae and Arisu looked at each other, then back to their Commander.  He was oh-so-wrong.  They only took the exam because they were _forced _to take it.  But they had a plan to get out of this party.  As the two knew, they were required to wear their new uniforms, so instead the two girls wore the furthest thing they could think of from their uniforms; their gym clothes.  They could only hope that Cid spotted them soon.  

"Anyway, I commend each and every one of you for making it this far," he droned on.  He wasn't sure what else he should say.

Seifer stood in the crowd next to Renee, beaming in his new SeeD uniform.  Renee on the other hand wore a long and elegant ivory gown that, like Selphie's, was also strapless, and her brown hair was done up except for a few strands from her bangs that curled into ringlets.

Seifer cupped a hand around his mouth and was preparing to yell, "Get off the stage!" but Renee elbowed him in the side before he got the chance to.

"Be nice!" she whispered harshly.

Seifer shoved his hands back down into his pockets.  "This is boring," he complained.

Renee stood on her tiptoes and began to look around the Quad.  If Squall was there, Selphie was bound to be there also.  Finally she spotted her in the back and waved.  Selphie returned the gesture and pushed through the crowd to stand with her.

"I heard what happened," Renee whispered when Selphie made it completely over there.

Selphie sighed, "Is there _anyone _who _hasn't _heard?" 

"I don't know, it's not every day something like _that _happens in Garden."

Suddenly everyone began to applaud.  Apparently Squall had finished his speech.

"So, you came with Seifer?" Selphie asked.

"Yeah.  He asked me in Timber."

"Aw, how sweet," Selphie smiled.

"Didn't you come with Squall?" Renee asked.

"No.  Well…sort of…"

"Selphie, you make things so much more complicated than they really are," Renee laughed.

"Well, we came together.  But I don't think it's a date."

"You don't think?"

Selphie shook her head.

"Well…I guess it makes _some _sense."

"What're you two talkin' about?" Seifer asked.

"Where've you been?" Renee laughed again.

"Listening to the end of Leonhart's speech.  It was so incredibly boring he probably set some crappy world record."

"I'll let you two get back to your date.  Have you seen Quistis?"

"She was talking with Xu earlier," Renee mused aloud.

"I just saw Xu…"

"You might want to try Cid," Seifer suggested.

"Oki dok!  I'll see you two later!" Selphie waved and walked off to find Cid.  It wasn't hard to find him, she could recognize his voice anywhere, especially when he was yelling.

"Is this your idea of some sort of sick joke!?  It is an insult to SeeD!" he was yelling at Sae and Arisu who looked torn between laughing and crying.  "I want you to go change into your SeeD uniforms and report back here ASAP!" he ordered, spit flying from his mouth as he screamed.

"O-Okay, Headmaster," they said quietly.  Then as they ran past Selphie, they winked and mouthed, "We're not coming back!"

"Um, Headmaster Cid?"

"Yes?" he answered, impatiently.

"I am terribly sorry to bother you, but have you seen Quistis?"

Rubbing his temples, he pointed to the Instructor.  She was talking to Nida not too far off.  "Thanks, sir," and she ran over to her friend.

"Hi, Quisty!" 

"Selphie!" both her and Nida said at once.  "Glad you're doing better!"

"Wow, Nida, you sure clean up nicely," Selphie smiled at the pilot.

"You look great too, Selphie.  You owe me a dance before the night is over for scaring me like that earlier," Nida said.

"Agreed!" she shook his hand.

With a wink, he walked away.

"If that's the case, how many dances do you owe Squall?"

"Huh?"

"He was so incredibly worried once he found out it was you in the elevator."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Quistis said, smoothing out her black SeeD skirt.  No fancy dresses for her.  "It was quite cute, but don't tell him I told you that."

Selphie blushed, "I won't!" she declared.

"Oh, by the way!" the Instructor exclaimed, holding up a finger, "The Rank A SeeD exam is in two weeks.  I thought I should tell you."

"Rank A?"

Quistis nodded, "You should take it."

"Me?  Take the A Rank test!?  The only Balamb students that passed that were you and Squall!"

"You could pass it too."

"No way!  I'm too dumb!"

"Selphie!  You were a member of the group who saved the world."

"So was Zell; that doesn't say much," Selphie joked.

"You led an infiltration on a Galbadian missile base for crissakes!"

"Quisty, you and Squall are prodigies!  There is no way I could pass that test!"

"What test?"

Selphie spun around so fast it could've given the normal person whiplash.  "Stop appearing out of nowhere!" she yelled at Squall, clutching her chest.

"The Rank A SeeD exam," Quistis answered his question.  All color drained from Squall's face.

"I remember taking that stupid test."

"Tell her that there is no way I could pass it!" the shorter girl yelled, pointing at the blond Instructor.

"No, I'm sure you could pass it…if you started studying now.  Right now."

"I can tutor you," Quistis offered.  "Being A Rank has so many benefits, you really should consider taking the exam.  It only comes once a year."

"What kind of benefits?"

"A bigger dorm for starters, complete with a mini-kitchen."

"The pay's not bad either," Squall admitted.

"Quistis, pardon me, but will you do me a favor?" Cid asked, approaching the group of three.

"Yes, sir.  What, may I inquire, is it you want me to do?"

"I sent Sae and Arisu back to their dorms to change and I just came to the conclusion they won't be coming back unless I send someone to get them."

"Why not let them stay in their dorm?"

"It's part of their punishment," he laughed.

"Yes, sir.  I'll get right on it," Quistis saluted and ran out of the Quad.  Cid nodded at Squall and Selphie then walked off as well.

"Those two definitely are strange," Squall said. "Their idea of punishment is going to a party?"

"Well, they didn't want to be here in the first place.  They were forced to take an exam, they were passed regardless of what their score was, and then thrown into a job they have always been scared of doing."

"When you say it like that it actually makes me feel sorry for Weak and Weaker."

"Hi, Seifer," Squall said monotonously.

"Hey, Squall!  Cool speech!" Renee smiled, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Ooh!  Yeah!" Selphie jumped up and hit Seifer on the shoulder.  "Congrats on finally passing your SeeD exam!"

"I could've passed it all along," the blond man claimed, "I just didn't want to, that's all."

"I see…" Selphie joked, winking at Renee.  She knew the reason he passed was because he was determined to take Renee to the ball afterwards.

Suddenly a slow tune began to play in the background.  "Ah!  I love this song!" Renee squealed, yanking on Seifer's arm.  "Let's dance!"

"Why can't they play some good rock songs?" Seifer complained, but allowed Renee to drag him on to the dance floor.  

"How is _rock _romantic?"

"There're a few love songs," he argued back.

"Yeah!  But not like this!"

Their argument faded into the crowd of other dancing couples, and Selphie couldn't help but laugh at the two.  "They're so funny!"

Feeling courageous, Selphie decided it was her turn to make a move.  "You wanna dance too, Squall?"

"I don't like dancing."

"Then you haven't danced with the right girl yet!" she smiled, pointing a finger in the air.

Before Squall got a change to respond, Nida tapped Selphie on the shoulder.  "How about that dance?"

"Oh," she looked back at Squall.

"Go ahead," he said.

Nida offered Selphie his arm and led her away from the Commander.  Now Selphie felt bad, but reassured herself with the thought, _there will be more slow dances.  _

"He really likes you," Nida said from out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"Squall.  I can tell."

"You have got to be out of your mind.  I may like him, but-"

"Selphie, as your 'adoptive big brother', would I _lie _to you?"

"To put it bluntly, yes."

"That hurt," Nida pretended to pout, "Oh well.  I suppose I'll have to talk to him anyway."

"Talk to whom, might I ask?"

"Squall."

"Why?"

"To inform him that if he tries anything that I'll kill him."

At this statement Selphie laughed.  "Adoptive brother _and _father, huh?"

Nida smiled, "A two for one deal."

"I'd love to see that fight!" she laughed even harder.

"You have no faith in me?"

"Against Squall?  I have faith in no one."

Nida looked as if he was about to say something when someone tapped on his shoulder.  

"Mind if I step in?"

Nida smiled and stepped away, mouthing, "Told ya he likes you."

Selphie stuck out her tongue then looked up and smiled at Squall.

"So you decided you wanted to dance?" she asked.

"It wouldn't hurt."

Selphie laughed and put her arms around his neck.  "Then let's dance!"

It was very awkward for a while, neither talked, only danced.  This was interrupted when the sound of breaking glass was heard.  Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and all looked in a corner.

Squall's eyebrows furrowed and he squinted in that direction as well.  "What's happening Squall?" Selphie asked, jumping up and down in place, trying to see over the top of everyone else's heads.  

"I'm not sure, but it doesn't look good."  Then all of a sudden his eyes widened and he grabbed Selphie's hand and led her to the scene of all the commotion.  Once they were closer, Selphie could tell who was fighting.  Renee and Rinoa were facing each other in some sort of stand off, both had looks of pure hatred on their faces.

Zell and Seifer stood not too far off, obviously debating whether or not they should intervene.

"What you did was really low," Renee growled, clenching her fists.

"For the last time, I didn't do anything!" Rinoa screamed.  

"Just _believing _that…_bitch _is low enough!  You're supposed to be Selphie's best friend!  You have known her longer than me, Sae or Arisu, and we know better than that."

"If you just barely know her-"

"Don't say that she is that way!  I know better!" Renee roared.  "You know what?  There aren't many people who I don't like, but I can't _stand _you!"

"When Roxanne actually saw-"

"Does she have physical proof of anything?"

"No.  But neither does Selphie!"

"But I would trust Selphie's word over hers!  Roxanne is the epitome of evil, and I hope she burns for it!"

"Excuse me?" Roxanne stepped into the fight as well.  "When you are going to talk trash about someone, learn to keep your voice down!"  And with that, the redhead slapped Renee across the face.

Selphie gasped and darted forward, but Squall held her arms back.  "Stay put, it's not worth getting in trouble over."

Mouth agape in shock, Renee brought a hand up to her cheek.  It took a while to clear things up in her mind, but once they were clear she scowled at the two girls.  All attempts to 'play fair' vanished.  

Renee reached over to the punch bowl, picked up the bowl and threw the glass at Roxanne, just barely missing her head.  The bowl shattered into many pieces at her feet, but the red liquid splashed up and stained her white dress.

"Why you little-!"

"Bring it on, Barbie.  I'll cream your ass!" She screamed, jumping forward onto Roxanne and tackling the girl into the hard ground.

"Not without our help!" Sae and Arisu had broken free from the grasps of the twin boys they had been dancing with, and were running to join the fight as well.

"For Selphie!" Sae yelled, running in and kicking Rinoa in the shin.  The five girls were duking it out in the middle of the Quad.

"Let me go!" Selphie wailed, trying to jerk her way out of Squall's grasp.  

"It's three to two, your friends are fine," he reassured.

Seifer and Zell ran over to where Squall and Selphie stood.  "What should we do, man?" Zell asked.  "They've got nails!  If we get in there to try and split them up we'll get slashed to ribbons!"

"Let go of me and I'll split it up!" the small SeeD hollered.  Reluctantly, Squall let go of her and she ran into the heart of the fight caught Renee's fist before it came in contact with Rinoa's face.  

"Stop it!" Selphie screamed at them.  "You are all acting like babies!  Why are you making such a big deal over this stupid rumor?"

"But, Selphie…" Arisu stopped bashing Roxanne's head into the table and let go of her hair.  "You heard what she said about you!"

"What _both _of them said!" Renee yelled, taking back her hand.  "You can't just let them get away with that!"

"As long as there are people like you three that believe _me, _then I don't have to worry."

"But-!" Sae yelled.

"But nothing.  Now stop it before you land yourselves in detention!"

Roxanne wiped some blood from her lip with the back of her hand.  "So it must be true.  You aren't denying it!  She really is sleeping with-!"

Selphie tried as hard as she could to hold her anger back, but couldn't hold it any longer.  "Shut up!" she screamed, and before her brain could process what she was doing, she felt her fist connect with Roxanne's nose.  For a split second the world seemed to travel in slow motion.  Roxanne fell backwards, blood spurting from her nose, and Renee, Sae and Arisu stared wide-eyed at Selphie.  "Why pretend to know everything about something you know nothing about!!?"

The boys used the girls' shocked silence to their advantage.  Squall, Zell and Seifer were the first to run out and drag their girls away.  The blond twins followed soon after to pull Sae and Arisu away.  Irvine was the last to come; he stood over Roxanne in a state of panic before carrying her to the Infirmary.

 "Calm down, calm down," Squall was telling Selphie who was still shaking in her fury.

"If you really hurt Roxy, I'll kill you!" Rinoa screamed.  The only thing holding her back was Zell, and he was having a hard time at that.

"It'll be no more than she deserved!" Renee shouted.  "I only wished _I _had punched her!" 

"Oh my God!" Selphie panicked, suddenly aware of the blood on her hand and what she had done to Roxanne.  "What've I done?"

"Shh…" Squall tried to calm her.

"I think you're safe," one of the twins said.

"Yeah, I don't think Cid saw," his brother finished.

"Think again," a voice boomed from behind.  Everyone's face went pale, and all the girls looked up at Cid simultaneously.  He was peering down his hawk-like nose at them.  

"The show's over!" Cid yelled at all the onlookers.  Reluctantly the crowd dispersed and Cid stood over the group of ten.  "Stand up, ladies."

All of the girls stood up and looked at the ground.  Sae hid the light blue fabric that used to be part of Rinoa's dress behind her back as the Headmaster paced in front of them.  "I could expect this from Sae and Arisu," he began, glaring at the two, "But I expected better from my high ranking SeeDs," he looked at Renee and Selphie, both of which felt like disappearing.  "And Rinoa, you are only staying in Garden because you are technically still a client.   Keep this up and I'll tear up your contract.  Disrupting the peace in my Garden is unacceptable, is that clear?"  Rinoa nodded and burst into tears.

"Sir, with all due respect," Seifer interrupted, "What about Roxanne?  She _is _the one who started the physical hostilities."

"I will talk with her later," he replied shortly, then he took a deep breath.  "You will all serve detentions.  _I _will choose the punishment," he glanced up at Seifer who nodded in return, then back to the girls.  "And it will start with leaving the ball early.  Yes, even you two," he looked at Sae and Arisu.  "If I hear about any more fights your detention will just get worse."  Cid warned them as they started on their way out, the boys following behind.

Selphie felt all the eyes follow her out, she wanted to cry just like Rinoa, but held back the tears.  The large group made their way into the hall, which was very bright in comparison to the Quad. 

"It's eleven," Seifer announced.  "The party doesn't end until three, we should find something to do to kill time until the party's over."

"I'm going to my dorm!" Rinoa choked out.  The thought of being around them any longer made her sick.  Zell rolled his eyes and followed her.

"The Training Center is still open," Renee said slowly.

"No!" Sae and Arisu screamed at once.

"No more fighting, remember?" Sae finished.

"I'm sure he didn't mean monsters," one of the twins laughed.

"Sh!"

"Are you going to introduce us to your dates?" Renee asked.

"Oh, yeah.  This is Blaise," Sae pointed to her date.

"And this is Blade."

"They're twins!" the two girls beamed.

"As if that wasn't obvious," Blade laughed.

"Hey!  I know where we can go!" Seifer exclaimed, snapping his fingers.  "It's nice out tonight, why don't we go to the second floor balcony?"

"That's not a bad idea," Quistis approached them from behind, Nida and Xu were with her.

"Don't tell Cid I said this," Xu whispered to Selphie, "But congratulations on punching that Roxanne chick!"

"Selphie, I thought I told you to not bully people bigger than you," Nida laughed, messing up her hair.

"That leaves me with no one to bully!" she pretended to be upset.

"We decided to join you guys; the party sucked anyway.  So we told Cid that we'd make sure you didn't fight anymore," Xu smiled.

As the group walked, Quistis spoke up, "I'll talk to Cid tomorrow and vouch for you all.  I know I may be able to get some of you out of serving detention."

"How are you gonna do that?" Selphie asked.

"Well, with you it won't be too difficult.  I'll just tell him that I am helping you study for the Rank A exam.  But this means you'll _have _to study and try your hardest to pass it."

Selphie's smile quickly faded into a frown.  "I  _have _to take it?"

"Unless you want to serve detention."

Seifer nudged Renee, "I'll see what I can do about you."

"Good," she sighed in relief.

"What about us?" Sae asked.

Quistis grimaced.  "I'll see what I can do, but Cid is extremely angry at you two after pulling that gym clothes scam."

"If she can't get you out, I'll be supervising," Nida shrugged.  "So you don't have to worry about cruel or unusual punishment."

"Well, you don't have to worry about the cruel punishment.  It _is _Nida, after all," Xu laughed.

Nida glared at her, and pressed the button for the elevator.  "We're riding the elevator?" Selphie asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, it's the fastest way to get there," Quistis said.

"Unless you intend on leaping up there," Seifer rolled his eyes.

"Or you want to walk up those incredibly steep stairs," Sae added.

"It's been fixed, Selphie," Nida said.

"I don't care!  It'll be a while before I ride in that thing again!"

"Suit yourself…" one of the twins shrugged and went inside the elevator when the doors slid open.

Selphie looked at the ground and nodded.  "I'll walk up the stairs."  But as she turned around, someone grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her in.  She knew who it was, she could recognize that laugh anywhere.  "Seifer!  This isn't funny!  Let go!"

"Let her go!" Renee yelled at him as well.

Seifer continued to laugh and Squall slid inside the elevator just as the doors began to slide shut.  Everyone was crammed shoulder to shoulder in the small space.

"Don't _worry_!" Nida laughed.  "It's not like it's going to break down again!"

"And if it does," Quistis added, "We'll be here to stop you from casting any spells."

The elevator jolted upward and Selphie looked around desperately and latched herself around Squall's arm.

"You'll be fine," he reassured.

"But you know…there's always that itsy bitsy chance that the elevator will self destruct…"

"Shut up, Seifer!" Xu said, rolling her eyes.  "Do you get off on torturing people?"

"Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

"Ow, Seifer, stop leaning on me you're heavy!" Renee complained, trying to shove him over.

"Ah!  My foot!  My foot!  My foot!" Quistis cried, "Seifer you're stepping on my foot!" 

"Is that all you girls do?  Complain?!" 

"It wasn't a very good idea to have everyone cram in here, huh?" Xu asked, uneasily.  

"Squall, your elbow is driving into my ribs," Nida grimaced.  

"Sorry, but I can't move at the moment," Squall replied.

"Hyne, this sucks!" Seifer complained.

"You guys are so cruel!" Selphie cried, burying her face into Squall's crisp, black SeeD jacket.  "If you hadn't made me ride, it wouldn't be so crowded!"

"Oh yeah, because you take up _so_ much room and all," Quistis laughed.

Then, the elevator jerked to a stop.  "What was that!?" Selphie panicked.  "Oh Hyne, oh Hyne, oh Hyne!  We're trapped!  I knew this would happen, but all you people said 'Noooo, the elevator's been fixed!"

"We're at the second floor," Quistis laughed, then the door opened as if to prove her point.

"A little jumpy aren't we?" Renee giggled.

"We crammed about seven people in that elevator!  The sheer weight could've caused the cable to snap!" Selphie said defensively, letting go of Squall's arm and stepping out of the cramped elevator.

"Are you calling me fat?" Xu asked from behind in a joking manner.

"No.  I am merely saying that we could've died in a horrible explosion, and you people don't even _care_!"

"Quit being so paranoid already," Seifer chuckled.  "We made it up here alive, so we don't have to worry about it, do we?"

Selphie turned bright red and folded her arms across her chest.

"Besides," Nida continued, "If you're really worried about it, and if you _really _want to, you can take the stairs on the way back down."  And with that, he wrapped his arm around Selphie's neck and gave her a noogie.

"Stop it!  I don't like any of you at the moment," she said, taking off her high heels and walking to the balcony doors.  The other girls followed in suit.  Squall smiled at Selphie's tendency to overreact, though he quickly hid it when Seifer turned around.  

"Hey, Leonhart, hurry your slow ass up.  You comin' or not?"

"Yeah, yeah…" he muttered and walked out on to the balcony and shut the heavy metal door behind him.  It was a warm night and strangely, rather bright.  The moon mixed with the Garden lights gave the group the perfect amount of lighting.

Squall glanced around.  There was a pile of high heels in one corner, and he automatically wondered why girls even wore them.  Xu had taken her black hair out of its updo and was running her fingers through it.

"Wow, that feels better!" she exclaimed.

"Your hair looks nice down," Nida smiled at her.  "You should wear it down more often.  I only see you in ponytails."

"Thanks!  But it gets in the way when it's down…"

Squall walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned against the railings.  The Garden was parked somewhere in Galbadia, though he wasn't sure where exactly.

"Hey!  Why are ya standing over here by yourself?" Selphie asked, nudging him in the side.

Squall shrugged, then looked at her and realized that without her shoes on, she had shrunken another two inches.

"I was just thinking," he sighed.

"About…?"

With another sigh, he turned around and leaned backwards on to the railing.  "Nothing."

"How do you think about nothing?  If you were thinking about nothing, then that means you weren't thinking at all."

"Okay, you got me."

"So, what were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," he said again, this time with a small smile playing across his lips.

"Gah!" she slumped forward.  "We need to work on your social skills."

"We brought the music!" Arisu yelled as she and her companions burst through the door.

"Great!"  Renee exclaimed, "You brought CDs too, didn't you?"

"Yup!" Sae beamed.

A small group of people flooded around the boombox to pick out songs.

"Hey," Selphie flicked Squall on the shoulder.  "You still owe me a dance," she smiled.

"…Okay."

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.  "It's a promise, right?"

"Right.  The next slow dance, I promise."

Selphie's eyes lit up and she smiled even wider.  "Okay.  And I'll hold you to your word!"

"Alrighty!" one of the twins announced, "This song was requested by Seifer."

"Yes!" the blond exclaimed.

"What did you request?" Renee asked.  As if to answer her, a rock tune began to resonate from the speakers.  "You can't dance to _this!_" she complained.

"You wanna bet?" he pulled her close and began to dance with her.  Suddenly, the chorus began: **I hate everything about you, why do I love you?**

Renee's eyes widened and tears sprung to them.  Then she pushed away from Seifer and ran for the door.  "What's wrong?" he asked.  "It's a love song!"

Renee didn't care, she pushed through the door and ran down the hall.  Seifer watched her run, then ran after her, yelling.  "Ren, hey wait!"

Sae and Arisu looked at each other, then ran after them as well.  "Blaise!  Blade!  You stay here!" Sae yelled.

"Yeah, let us handle this!" Arisu finished, closing the door behind them.

The twins stood there, confused once again.  "Okay…" Blaise said slowly, "…Uhm, any more requests?"

~ ~

When Sae and Arisu caught up with Seifer and Renee, they were in the Secret Spot of the Training Center of all places.  The one place in Garden where the two girls hated to be the most.  Huffing and puffing for air, they slowly approached the couple.  Renee was in a corner, crying quietly to herself and Seifer was begging for her to listen to him.

Arisu stood on her tiptoes and tapped him on the shoulder.  "Maybe you should let us handle this," she said slowly.

Reluctantly, he began walking away when Sae grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.  "Wait for us in the hall."  He nodded and did as she said.

Arisu plopped down next to Renee and hugged the sobbing girl.  "Why are you so upset?  You know he didn't mean anything negative towards you."

"Yeah," Sae agreed, sitting down on Renee's other side.  "It's Seifer, he's a little rough around the edges.  Not only that, I think you're his first _real _girlfriend."

Renee sniffled and wiped her eyes.  "It's not that…"

"Then what is it?" the two girls asked together.

"It's a mix of several things," she admitted.

"You want to tell us about it?"

Renee took a shuddering breath and began.  "I am a lot like Selphie in many ways, but I'm also totally different.  When I was in Galbadia Garden, I dated a guy named Serius.  He was so kind, and he had that way of smiling and making your insides melt, just like Seifer."

"Uh-huh…" Arisu pressed her on.

"But one day, he and I got in a fight.  And that song just brings back all sorts of bad memories."

"Why?" Sae asked.

"I caught him and my best friend at the time, Hosako, making out."

"Oh…"

"I couldn't even begin to describe how much that hurt.  It was like one of those times where you feel as if your emotional pain was physical.  It just really…hurt," her voice began cracking.  "I couldn't stay there any longer," she sobbed again, "I couldn't face it.  My best friend and boyfriend both betrayed me.  I transferred here so I wouldn't have to face either of them any more."

"But Seifer wouldn't do anything like that," Arisu reassured her.  "He would never willingly or knowingly hurt you."

"Yeah, so cheer up.  You were so happy earlier," Sae smiled at her.

Renee tried to smile as well, but it wavered.  "I just don't want to be hurt again.  Not like that."

"But you can't live your life in seclusion either."

"Yeah, being hurt comes in the cycle of being in love."

The two girls stood up and helped Renee up as well.  "Is my mascara running?" she asked, sniffling again.

"Just a little."

Renee rubbed the black makeup out from under her eyes.  "That's better!" Arisu exclaimed.

As the three walked out, Renee said, "Gah, boys are more trouble that they're worth."

Sae and Arisu laughed, "That's the truth!"

Seifer was waiting for them in the hall like he was told, and something in his eyes stated that he overheard what they said.  He looked at Renee with newfound respect and pity.  Never would he allow her to be hurt like that again, he told himself.

~ ~

"So…Selphie…" Nida approached her and Squall.  "I was meaning to ask you earlier but completely forgot."

"What?"

"I overheard you praying for forgiveness when you were stuck, and you mentioned lying about your age to get into Garden."

"Oh…yeah…" she blushed.  "When Trabia Garden was established you had to be at least thirteen to enroll."

Squall looked at her in shock.  She lied about her age?  "Thirteen?"

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry, I won't turn you in or anything, but since you _are _in Balamb now, we really should have your accurate date of birth."

"It's the same as what's been written in my file, just a year younger."

"Okay," Nida smiled.  "I'll have Xu change it."

"So…how old _are _you?" Squall asked.

"Uhm…almost seventeen."

"You're still sixteen!?"

"Yeah," she said quietly.  "So, instead of being a month older than you, I'm almost a year younger."

"It's hard to believe you would lie about anything."

"Well, believe it or not, I did.  But I had a good reason to."

"What was that?"

Selphie pondered for a moment.  She knew there was a reason, a very good reason, why she had been so eager to enroll into Trabia Garden early, but she couldn't recall it.

"Is it the GF?"

"Yeah, I can't remember it for the life of me!"

Meanwhile, Blaise and Blade stood not too far away, playing random upbeat rock songs and desperately awaiting their dates' return.

"These are all high-ranking SeeDs, they would beat us up and steal our shoes if they got the chance," one of them whispered to the other.

Quistis, Xu, and Nida were talking, Xu was still attached to the pilot, or so it seemed.

The door opened and Sae and Arisu walked out, followed by Renee and Seifer.  Everyone seemed to be back to normal again.

"It's midnight!" Xu said, "You should play a slow song!"

"Okay," Blade said.  "Do you have anything in mind?"

"How about 'Embrace Me'?"  The twins searched through the compact discs until they found it and then they put it on.  As soon as it started to play, Sae and Arisu pulled their dates on to the dance floor.  Renee and Seifer danced as well, so did Xu and Nida.

"I promised," Squall said, grabbing Selphie's hand and leading her to the center of the balcony.

The soothing lyrics were intoxicating.  **It's like a dream to be this happy, I never thought this far.  And all the sweet desperation, I want it all…**the woman sang.  Selphie rested her head on Squall's chest and breathed in the smell of his cologne.  She could feel the steady of beating of his heart, and once again prayed that she could stay like that forever.

I read the news and they lied about you, they missed the point of it all.  I never knew that much to be with your name, must be a fortunate demon.  Embrace me, don't break me… 

The song ended way before most people wanted it, and the couples broke apart.  Xu and Nida sat with their backs against the wall, Xu rested her head on Nida's shoulder and Nida rested his head on hers.  Seifer and Renee were looking over the balcony, arms around each other.  

But Selphie still hadn't let go of Squall.  The two still stood there, seemingly still dancing.

"Selphie?" Squall asked in a whisper.  She didn't answer.  "Selphie?" he asked a second time.  Still no response.  As much as he tried, he couldn't see her face.

"Oh…how cute!" Arisu exclaimed, hitting Sae on the arm so that she would look too.

"She's sleeping!" Sae giggled.

"That's adorable!" Quistis agreed.  "I wish I had a camera." 

"Selphie…" Squall tried again, shaking her this time.

"Hmm?" she asked, looking tiredly up at him.

"Come on, you're tired.  I'll take you to your dorm," he said quietly. 

Selphie yawned, "No, I'm not," she argued.

"Liar," Squall smiled at her.

Selphie smiled back up at him, "You have a wonderful smile, why don't you use it more often?" she asked, leaning her head against his chest a second time.  

He didn't answer her, instead he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her back inside the Garden.

"Goodnight, everyone," Selphie said tiredly.

"Goodnight," they answered.

"Stairs or elevator?" he asked, when they finally reached the elevator.

As corny as it seemed, she felt safe as long as he was around her.  Especially when he held her like that.  Not only that, she was _really _tired.  "Elevator," she answered tiredly.

"Okay."

Her eyelids felt so heavy, and she knew it was only midnight.  "I'm pathetic," she said quietly.  "It's only midnight and I'm about ready to fall asleep."

"You had a long day."

Squall walked her to her dorm and to both of their surprise she saw that she had left her door wide open.

"Why didn't you tell me I forgot to close the door?"

"I didn't realize it was open.  Is anything missing?"

Selphie turned on the lights and glanced around.  "Oh, Hyne!  Rocks is gone!"

"Rocks is smart, he'll come back.  He probably went to the Training Center to use the bathroom."

"What about the T-Rexaur?!"

"He'll be fine," Squall reassured her.  "If he isn't back tomorrow, I'll help you look for him."

"Okay.  Goodnight, and thanks for your help today."

"Goodnight," Squall said.  "See you in the morning."

Selphie closed the door and immediately changed into pajamas.  Tiredly she walked into her bathroom and washed all the makeup from her face.

Just as she turned down the bed she heard pawing at the door.

"It's past your curfew," Selphie said, opening the door for the golden retriever.

For some reason, Rocks seemed a little _too _pleased with himself when he returned home that night.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Are there any artists out there?  As we wrote this chapter we began to think 'it would be totally awesome if there were some cute Squalphie pictures out there' but unfortunately, BreeAnne and I are only satisfactory artists.  We can't draw that well.  If anyone has any Squall/Selphie related art, please email it to us at CuteMooglez@hotmail.com (and if you want, we'll even upload it on our site!)  It would really make our day.

Also, we decided that there was no way we could fit everything that we promised last chapter into this one.  It actually may span up to three chapters to get all that written.  O.O  We don't know why, but this story has the longest chapters out of any one story we have ever written.  

By the way, the whole 'I can't remember, it must be the GF' thing on the balcony: we are going to start writing another story in the near future entitled 'The Past: Revisited' (another Squalphie, though it only makes a few references…not a hardcore romance, sorry) that takes a look into each of the character's lives before entering the orphanage, as well as some foster care and/or adoptive parents.  If that interests you, then we hope you'll read it once we upload it!   

Wow…that was a long author's note.  Heh.  ^o^  Please review us and let us know what you think!  Flames and feedback are appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: We have decided to start posting review responses on the bottom of each chapter, because they've been getting longer as the story progresses as well. What can we say? We love all of the reviews we receive and we want to thank every one of you and answer your questions. Remember, everyone is welcome to IM or send us emails (see our profile for our screen names/email address, as well as updates if you're interested in any of our other stories). We think that's about it. Thanks for putting up with our random babbling (wonder how many people completely skip over this part and go straight into the story…hehe) o

Oh, and sorry about the long delay. Umm, our Beta-Reader just got a job and she's been very busy, which we can totally understand. So, we'd like to thank **Brian** for offering to help us while she's unable. (Thanks bunches!)

Taming the Lion: Chapter 8

Selphie woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed and cheerful as well. She slipped into a pair of jeans and buttoned up a green shirt, leaving the top button undone. As she ran a bright pink brush through her hair, she knelt down beside her sleeping companion and rubbed the top of his head. "You ready to go do your business?" she smiled.

Rocks opened up a single eye and jumped up all at once, almost as if he had never actually been sleeping. "Yeah, yeah. I know you're excited, but you'll just have to wait buster," she laughed, running into her bathroom.

The dog followed behind and sat patiently behind her as she brushed her teeth. His tail thumped against the tile floor, keeping almost perfect time, and his tongue hung out of his mouth lopsidedly. Finally, Rocks decided that he was getting tired of waiting, so he stood up and pressed his wet nose against the back of his master's arm.

Selphie jumped and yelped in response to the wetness on her elbow. After spitting the toothpaste into the sink she turned and looked at the dog, "You goobered all over me, Rocks!" she laughed, running her arm under the faucet as well.

The golden retriever merely cocked his head to the side, and in a strange way it seemed as if he were smiling. "Alright. I know, I know, you want to go say hi to every tree in the Training Center….you'll just have to wait a little longer."

Rocks' ears drooped and he looked up at her, giving her the oh-so-evil puppy dog face that just so happened to be one of Selphie's tactics for getting things her way as well. And as a master of that tactic, Selphie knew just the way to overcome it: simply try not to look at it and give into the pity. As soon as she finished applying her mascara, she found that she couldn't bear it anymore.

"You are truly evil, you know that?" she laughed, strapping the leash to the dog's collar. Rocks barked in response and dragged her to the door.

For a few moments, she fumbled around on a table next to the door until she managed to grasp her keys; she then opened the door and shut off her lights upon exiting. While Selphie was supposed to be walking Rocks, it seemed as if he were walking her instead. Clearly, a dog with a mission, he was intent on making it to the Training Center.

The two weren't in there long before Rocks encountered a Grat and managed to tick it off just enough for it to cover him in a thin layer of 'gastric juice'. Needless to say, Rocks learned the hard way that Grats do not enjoy being marked territorially. He ran back to Selphie, ears down and tail between his legs, whimpering at her.

"I don't feel sorry for you. I'd do the same if you peed on me," she smiled. "But you _will_ be itchy for a while. Gastric juice isn't very fun." Rocks seemed to be sulking. "Hey now, Mister, haven't you heard of the Golden Rule? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Now come on, I think you've had your fun."

Still, he seemed adamant on staying, even though he'd already done his business. She knew that she hadn't spent much time with him lately, so she picked up a stick from the ground and led the dog into a room specified for sparring and recreation, in other words: monster-less. This was also the room that Squall and Seifer had exchanged blows and scars in just a year earlier. Because it was relatively early, she didn't think anyone would be training yet, but she was wrong. A little boy, one of the younger Junior Classmen, was curled up in the fetal position, crying to himself.

Selphie stopped in her tracks and glanced down at Rocks, but he was already on the case. The dog made it over to the boy and began nudging him with his snout. With a sniffle, the boy lifted his head to look at the dog. Rocks promptly licked his face.

"Hi, doggy," the child whispered, hugging the golden retriever.

"Hello there," Selphie smiled, seating herself next to him. "What's wrong?"

The boy wiped his sleeve under his nose and quietly replied, "The T-Rexaur got a hold of the ball Granny gave me for Christmas."

Selphie felt her heart sink, she felt really bad for the child. She knew that most of the really young children that attended Garden were orphans. Not many parents would just send their five-year-old child to a military academy where they would spend most of their life learning magic and attacks. Not to mention the fact that most of the children lived in Garden, just like the Junior Classmen and SeeDs, and their tuition was paid by orphanages or charities.

She smiled at him in a friendly manner, "Ooh! At least it wasn't you!"

This didn't seem to help the kid at all, but it didn't matter because he seemed to be more taken with Rocks anyway. "Hey lady, is this your dog?"

"Yes. His name is Rocks!"

The child giggled as Rocks continued to lick his face. "I wish I had a dog."

Selphie smiled sadly and dropped the stick she was holding. Originally she was planning on playing fetch with him, but she knew she had things to do.

"I'll tell you what," she said in a friendly tone, "I have to go run some errands, would you mind watching him for me…uh…?" she paused for a second and looked at the boy, she wasn't sure what to call him.

"My name's Brian."

"Okay, Brian. You up for it?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed.

"Thank you, I shouldn't be too long, but if you get bored or have somewhere to go, just leave him in this room and I'll come back for him as soon as I can."

"Okay," he beamed.

As Selphie exited the Training Center, she couldn't help but think, _man, they seem to get younger and younger. _That boy she had seen, she knew couldn't be much older than five. In Trabia Garden, you had to be at least thirteen to enroll; she thought it almost as bad as child labor to allow someone so young to start training as a mercenary. These thoughts distracted her so much that she bumped right into Xu.

"Hey, you need to learn to pay more attention," Xu laughed. "You tend to run blindly into so many people."

"Sorry, Xu. Just distracted, I guess…it was a long night, you know?"

"Wimp! We stayed on the balcony three hours after you left!"

"And you're getting ready to train? Are you even human!?"

"That's beside the point. Quistis was looking for you, she's in the library, said something about your detention."

"Oh, Hyne," Selphie mumbled and drug a hand down her face. "Was she able to get me out of it?"

"That I don't know. I have not spoken to Cid yet this morning."

Selphie sighed, "Okay, I better go find her then." As she ran for the library, she yelled, "Thanks Xu!" over her shoulder.

Smiling, Selphie ran past a huge group of students that were walking in the hall, "Booyaka!" she called out as a warning, ducking under several arms and legs as the students jumped out of her way. She rounded the corner into the library and finally skidded to a stop in front of the librarian's desk. All eyes were on her as she tried to catch her breath, and once this was accomplished, she looked up and waved at them, almost as if signaling them to go back to work.

Using her hands to steady herself against the wall, she glanced around. She couldn't see anyone she knew, most of the students in the library at this time of morning were the bookworms or students cramming last minute for an exam. However, she saw one thing that astonished her. A pile of books, that seemed to be twice Selphie's height, seemed to be walking in her direction.

"Selph? Is that you?" the pile of study material asked.

"It's an omen," the SeeD breathed, "but what could it mean?"

Quistis' head poked out from around all the books, "Get serious, this stack is getting really heavy."

"Well, gee Quisty. Why do you insist on checking out so many books at once?"

"They're for you," the instructor grunted and passed half of the stack to her cohort.

"Very funny, Quistis. You're making it sound like you actually expect me to read all of this."

"I do."

Selphie's eyes grew wide and she almost fell backwards, books and all. "You've gotta be kidding me! Do you want me to go into cardiac arrest?"

"How can you go into cardiac arrest by reading?"

"I'll…I'll…find a way."

"Okay, sure, while you think, take these to the librarian and ask her to start checking them out to you."

"No…that's okay Quisty, you do that…" she said slowly, inching her way around the taller girl. "I'll look for more books."

"Dr. Seuss does not count as study material."

"Quisty! I'm surprised at you! I've moved on to better authors than Dr. Seuss…"

"Name one."

"…I'm quite fond of Shel Silverstein…"

"Right Selphie. Go check these out and wait for me. I'll be there in a little bit."

Selphie grumbled a few incoherent things to herself as she lugged the gigantic pile of books back to the librarian, who in turn looked at Selphie in astonishment. "Wow, Ms. Tilmitt, I don't think you've ever checked this many books out at once. As a matter of fact, I think this is more books than you've ever checked out in your life."

"You're right, but you know what?" the petite girl leaned in closer to the librarian and said, "It's because of her. If you ever want a tutor for taking the A rank exam, do _not _ask for Quistis; she's out for blood."

"I heard that!"

"YOU HEAR EVERYTHING!" Selphie shouted over her shoulder. "When I whisper, even if you can hear me, you should pretend like you didn't! It's good manners!"

"Shh, please, this _is _a library," the girl laughed and began to check the books out to Selphie, and Selphie merely stood there, tapping her foot. It wasn't long before Quistis returned with another stack of books.

"Are these going under your name, Quistis?"

"Nope, under Selphie's."

Selphie at this point seemed completely emotionless. She stared blankly at the books as the librarian dragged them under the laser and typed things into her computer. One book, however, caught her attention. 'A Rank for Dummies' was its title.

"Oh, so I'm a dummy?!"

"I never said that!"

The next book that went under was, 'Are you Prepared? SeeD exam: Rank A'. "I don't like the look of these books, Quisty," she whined.

"Sorry."

With much difficulty, the librarian picked up the last book. It was so incredibly heavy, her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth as she dragged it under the laser. This book was called, 'The SeeD's Guide for Everything'.

"I'm going to die, and then you'll feel really bad," Selphie finally said.

"No you won't. And if you do, I'll be the one to suffer the consequences. It wasn't easy talking you out of your detention, you know? Cid would not be very pleased with me if you were to pass away before you actually took the exam."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny. I just want to let you know that I don't like you, or anyone else for that matter at the moment." Grunting from the effort, both of the girls picked up a stack of books each and walked out of the library facility.

"Where are we putting these?"

"In your dorm, where else?"

"One problem, Quisty. They'll never fit," Selphie grunted. Those books were heavy, and every step made her feel as if she was getting closer and closer to the ground. Tiny beads of perspiration slid down from her temple as the two worked their way down the hall.

Despite being laden down with what seemed to be well over half of Selphie's body weight in books, the two managed to struggle their way to the girls' dorms. Immediately upon arrival in her room, Selphie dropped all of the books into a heap on the floor and leapt over them, before settling herself on the bed.

"No, Selphie. We do not treat books this way, especially when they do not belong to us," Quistis sighed, placing her stack on Selphie's desk, then stooping to pick up the books scattered pathetically on the floor.

"What's with the plural usage? _We _may not treat books like that, but _I _do, so there!" she yelled, sticking out her tongue.

The blond instructor sighed exasperatedly and searched through the gargantuan pile of books before pulling one out. "Okay, before anything, you need to read this," she stated, throwing it into Selphie's lap.

"What is it?" It was a stupid question, she knew, because on the black leather cover it had written 'SeeD Handbook' in bright red letters.

"That is the handbook, _my _copy of it. I have highlighted everything you need to know."

"Wow! That's handy! So, all I have to do is read what's highlighted? Thanks!" Selphie beamed and anxiously opened the thick book and her expression immediately dropped. Unbelieving, she flipped through the pages, but it was the same on every page. Almost every sentence had a bright yellow glow around it. "Hyne Quisty! You might as well have highlighted the whole book!"

"I only highlighted what was important."

Selphie stared in awe at the book some more, then turned it to face the instructor, who had also seated herself on the bed. "Yes, I know. It's all very important."

"Gah! You have _got _to be kidding me!" she griped.

"If you would actually look at what I've highlighted, you will see that you probably already know most of it."

"That is beside the point!! You tell me that I have a week to prepare for this exam, then you give me an entire mini-library for me to study!?"

"I suppose you're right. Okay, how about this. I'll go through the books and pull out all the unnecessary ones, that way you only need to study the important material.. I'll call someone over and have him or her turn the others back into the library. Deal?"

Selphie didn't say anything.

"But, if I do this, that means you have to read _all _of the left over books."

"…Okay…"

With a smile, Quistis began to sort through the pile while Selphie boringly flipped through the SeeD Handbook. It wasn't long before there were two piles of books, and thankfully, the majority of them was to be taken back to the library. "Now…who to call?" Quistis thought aloud, tapping her lip all the while.

"Oh, how about Renee?" Selphie suggested, looking up from the book. "Was Seifer able to get her out of detention?"

"Maybe…let's check, shall we?" The blond walked over to the pink, fuzzy phone and picked it up. Selphie kept all of her friends' numbers on Post-It notes, which were evenly distributed around her phone. After scanning the vicinity around the telephone, Quistis' eyes finally landed on Renee's number and she hurriedly dialed it.

The phone range twice before it was picked up. "Yeah?" came Renee's faint reply. It was apparent that Quistis had awoken her.

"Sorry to bother you Renee, but do you know if Seifer was able to get you out of your detention?"

Quistis could hear Renee yawn then there was a brief pause before suddenly Renee shouted, "Aw shoot!" Lots of scrambling could be heard. "Why doesn't anyone tell me what time it is? I've overslept, and even if I don't have detention I'm in big trouble… I'll be late again. Gah!"

Despite all Quistis' efforts of trying to gain Renee's attention again, the transfer student continued to get ready quickly, mumbling to herself. "Wait a minute! Quistis, hold on! I have a message on my answering machine."

The instructor heard a beeping sound that obviously meant Renee was checking her messages. "You have one new message," the mechanic voice stated.

"Hey, Renee. It's Seifer. I tried and tried to get you out of detention, but Cid wanted some sort of trade off, either you had detention or you had to do something else. I hope you don't mind, but I told him you'd be helping Quistis tutor Selphie. It got you out of detention…"

Another beep resonated, signifying that Renee had turned off the machine. "Well, you heard the man. It sounds like I'm helping you two!"

At this point, Quistis was laughing quietly to herself. "Heavy sleeper, huh?"

"Normally I'm not that bad, but we were up late last night."

"Yeah, I know."

"Anyway, I'll be over there in a jiffy. I'm just goin' to grab some food."

"Oh, well if that's the case, if you don't mind, would you mind picking up some books and dropping them off at the library for us? We got too many."

"No problem. How many books are we looking at?"

"Uh…well, get Seifer's help if you can. We're looking at about…" Quistis glanced at the desk, "Around twenty."

"Twenty!!?"

"And they're big books too!" Selphie yelled from her bed.

With another laugh, Quistis said, "It would help us out, and give you and Seifer time together."

"Well, of course I was going to do it anyway. But that is bonus. I'll be there once I'm done getting ready. See ya!"

"Alright, see ya." Smiling, Quistis put the phone back down. "Well, she's out of detention, she's going to help you study too."

"Oh, that's great! It'll be like a party!"

"No, it won't. Because we can't afford for you to fail this test."

"You don't ever let me have any fun!" she yelled, trying her best to sound like a teenage girl fighting with her mother.

Quistis rolled her eyes, "Maybe, but that'll be decided later. Now," she started, pulling the handbook from Selphie's hands and replacing it with a folder full of papers, "I made you a study guide. These are some questions that could show up on the test. But they will not prepare you for the final question. The final question depends completely on you."

"Okay, now you're starting to creep me out," the small SeeD said, wide-eyed.

With glee, Quistis slapped her leg, "Don't worry! You'll be perfectly fine!"

"Please say you'll be the one giving the test. Please! Puh-leeese!!?"

"No, I'm sorry. Cid won't authorize for anyone but him or Matron to give the Rank A exam."

At this last statement, Selphie's jaw dropped. "Is it that hard?" her voice came out thin, almost as a squeak.

"It's…challenging…"

"That's not a direct answer!!" she shouted. "Yes or no?! You've taken it! I haven't!"

Quistis merely smiled wryly.

"Fine, if you won't answer me, I'll ask Squall. He'll give me a direct answer."

"He's so blunt, all he can give is a direct answer," the instructor laughed.

"You're mean," Selphie pouted and stuck out her tongue.

Shrugging, the blond smiled and opened up the handbook she had taken from Selphie. "Alright. Now, what is the most important thing a SeeD must know?"

As Selphie opened her mouth to answer, she came to the conclusion that she would much rather be serving her detention than studying for this exam. _Bite the bullet_, she told herself, _it'll turn out for the best. _

Eyes still threatening to shut, Rinoa trudged into the kitchen of the cafeteria to see Roxanne lying with her head on a wooden table. From the looks of it, the redhead was just as tired as she was, because she could hear light snoring coming from the girl. Tiredly, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stared blankly at the sink, hoping to keep herself awake.

A loud bang came from behind the door, causing Rinoa to jump and Roxanne to stir and lift her head. The two girls watched the door intently to see Sae and Arisu stumble in, falling over each other.

"You klutz!" Sae yelled at Arisu, who had landed Sae's back. With a grunt, the brunette managed to push her friend off, the two got up and dusted themselves off, and sat at the table as well. When Sae's eyes drifted over to Roxanne she almost fell out of her chair. The redhead's nose was swollen, purple, and covered with a huge bandage. Selphie had managed to break her nose!

When Roxanne saw her looking she gave Sae the most nasty look she could muster, so she averted her gaze elsewhere.

"I wonder where Nida is…" Arisu muttered to Sae as she took a seat.

"Guess he isn't here yet."

The group of four sat in silence until a lunch lady came into the room. She looked around and sighed, "Your supervisor isn't here yet?"

In unison, they all shook their heads. "Okay. Then I'll tell you what you need to do. Right now you are in charge of doing the dishes. We'll need someone to wash them, and someone to dry them. The other two need to put them away."

"Who's going to do what?" Rinoa asked, trying to sound polite.

The lunch lady thought for a moment. "You, dearie," she said, grabbing Roxanne by the shoulder and steering her to the sink, "you wash them." Roxanne groaned and slammed her fist of perfectly manicured nails against the counter. "And you, the one in blue," she pointed to Rinoa, "you dry them."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Suck up..." Arisu muttered, glaring at Rinoa. The lunch lady took one last look at everyone, then she gasped.

"Oh! I almost forgot. You are all required to put these on." From the pocket of her apron she pulled out four hairnets and walked through the doors.

"No way!" Roxanne yelled, "I will not wear that!"

"Oh, come on Roxy," Sae rolled her eyes, "your hair could use a little flattening." Arisu laughed and steadied herself against the table to keep from collapsing in a fit of giggles.

Roxanne scrunched her nose up, grabbed the liquid dish soap and squirted the entire bottle at the two girls. However, her aim wasn't true, and most of the soap ended up on the floor. Angrily, Arisu walked around the puddle of liquid soap and just as she was getting ready to pummel Roxanne, the door swung open and Nida walked in.

"Hi girls…" he smiled and waved jollily.

"Wait! Nida! Watch out!" Without knowing it, the young man was walking right for puddle of soap, but he had no idea why everyone was yelling at him. Suddenly, his foot came in contact with something slippery, but before his brain could process what was actually happening, he was on the ground staring up at four faces.

"I told you to watch out," Rinoa sighed, but she was still smiling. Arisu offered him a hand and with Sae's help, managed to get him off of the ground.

"Look, I know it's impossible for me to ask all of you not to fight, because it's in your guys' nature. But, all I'm asking is for you to please keep it down, I'm hoping to catch up on sleep." Roxanne stared in awe as Nida walked to the table, still clutching his head, and laid his head down. It wasn't very long before his snoring was heard.

The tension in the room grew; it was so thick that not even Squall could chop it in half with his gunblade. Lips pursed and scowling, Roxanne bent down and cleaned the soap up off of the floor so that no one else would slip, then everyone awaited the first load of dishes.

In no time at all, it seemed as if a steady flow of plates, bowls, and utensils were coming in from the cafeteria, and everyone was busy with their jobs. While Roxanne scrubbed at the dishes and Rinoa dried them, Sae and Arisu struggled to keep up with the pace by putting them in their respected places.

Fights broke out over the smallest things, though everyone tried to keep them quiet so as not to wake Nida.

"You missed a spot," Sae pointed to a frying pan that Roxanne had spent about five minutes scrubbing.

"Oh, did I?" she asked, picking it up. Then the redhead held it over her head in a fashion that made it seem like she was threatening to hit it over the girl's head.

"Cut it out, Roxanne," Rinoa sighed, shoving a plate she had been drying a little too hard into Arisu's stomach.

"I swear to Hyne, you do that one more time and my foot is going up your ass!" Arisu grumbled, raising a fist as if to emphasize her statement.

The little brawls went on for about an hour, until Nida had awoken to the sound of someone's skull coming in contact with a skillet. He opened a sleepy eye to see Sae and Arisu ganging up on Roxanne, who was defending herself with the guilty skillet, Rinoa was off in the distance ignoring the entire entourage.

"Listen, Ms. Priss. I'm sick to death of listening to your complaining! None of us want to be here, but you're not making the experience any more pleasant!" Arisu was screaming.

"No kidding!" Sae agreed

Nida stood up and plucked the pan from the redhead's hands. "Who hit who with the skillet and why?" he asked, tiredly. No one said anything. "I'm not playing games! This is serious!" Sae and Arisu pointed to Roxanne whose face was growing a bright red to match her vibrant hair. "Who did you hit?"

"She started it!" she bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at Sae.

"Did you hit her?"

"Yes. But sir! She punched-" Nida waved his hand dismissively.

"Apparently I'm not going to get any sleep if you aren't separated," he sighed. "Okay. That's a simple enough task." He disappeared deeper into the kitchen where all of the lunch ladies were busy cooking.

While he was gone the girls traded death glares with one another. Arisu sat on the ground and crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "This sucks," she finally announced.

"Are you going to do any work at all?" Rinoa asked. "You're supposed to washing the dishes…"

Roxanne turned up her nose and went back to the sink to continue her job.

The four worked in bitter silence until Nida reappeared. "Okay. Sae, Arisu, get yourselves up to the second floor classroom."

"Why-?"

"Your detentions have been reassigned. The teacher for the newbie junior classmen is out sick today, and you two are to substitute."

"But! We don't have a teaching license!" Sae exclaimed.

"They're five year olds, they read books and finger paint," Nida smiled.

"…Yeah, because finger painting is a skill that all SeeDs must acquire…" Sae muttered sarcastically.

"Damn straight!"

"I hate children! I'm not good with them!" Arisu whined and got down on her knees in a pleading manner. "Please, Nida! I'd rather scrub toilets than watch a group of five year olds!"

"Sorry, we already have people doing that for us. Now go, Cid wants you two up there pronto."

Looking very much like two people walking down death row, the girls shuffled out of the kitchen. Of course, they could always consider skipping their detention entirely, but unlike other students who could possibly be kicked out of Garden, Cid would probably end up raising their SeeD rank as punishment.

"I can't believe it, out of all things to do for detention…teaching the newbies?"

"Lighten up a little," Sae laughed, "It can't be too bad. I'm actually pretty good when it comes to kids."

At this statement, Arisu scoffed, "Yeah, well why don't we just brag about it?"

"I will!" the brunette declared, sticking her tongue out sarcastically.

"Selphie! I'm so proud of you! You're working so hard!" Quistis exclaimed upon entering Selphie's dorm again. She had gone to teach a class and told Selphie to study while she was gone. Renee was sitting on the floor close by the desk, lying on her stomach and reading a magazine. She looked up from whatever article she had been reading, glanced at Selphie and tried to suppress a laugh, then went back to reading.

"That's because I'm a good student…" the girl said uneasily, trying her best to cover up her 'work' without being too conspicuous.

"Let's see how you're doing."

"Naw…you don't want to look at this Quistis!"

"Yes, I do!"

"No, you don't."

"I'd trust Selphie with that, you don't want to see it," Renee giggled, sitting up.

Quistis furrowed her eyebrows and reached over Selphie's shoulder to grab the paper she had been writing on, but Selphie grabbed the other end. "Let go, Selphie! I just want to see your progress!"

"No, you let go Quisty! You're going to rip it, then what'll I study?!"

"Let…me…see!!" with a great heave, she managed to wrestle half of the paper away from the smaller girl.

"Oh, sure, I get the innocent looking half," Selphie sighed, dropping it and allowing the paper to waft back down onto the table. "Look, Quistis. I was trying to study, I really was! But I got sidetracked…"

The blond instructor wasn't sure whether she should laugh or yell at what she was seeing. Selphie had definitely gotten sidetracked; because on the bottom half of her notes was a nice little picture she had drawn all by herself. It showed a gigantic stack of books, very thick books at that. At the very top of the pile was a stick figure grinning wickedly and cracking a whip, and below the pile, apparently being crushed, was another stick person with giant rivers of tears streaming from her eyes. To tell the truth, the instructor probably would have had a hard time figuring out what it all had meant had Selphie not included labels for everything.

By the top figure was a label and an arrow pointing to it that said 'Big Fat Meanie Quistis'. Pointing below her was an arrow that said 'Stupid Books', and lastly, an arrow pointing to the pitiful person on the bottom of it all said 'Poor Me'.

"Well, this is…interesting…" Quistis sighed.

"So you're not mad?" Selphie beamed.

"I never said that…"

Looking every which way, Selphie finally pointed an accusing finger at the girl seated on the floor, "Renee added the devil horns!" Quistis looked down at Renee, but she was already pretending to be fixated on an article about a new weapon that had been designed in Esthar.

"Okay, whatever. How far did you get before you became distracted?"

Shrugging, Selphie handed Quistis her half of the paper that had actual work on it. Quistis scanned the paper from over her ovular shaped glasses and finally sighed, set the paper down on the desk and rubbed her temples. Selphie had managed to answer a grand total of three questions while the instructor had taught a forty-five minute class.

Noticing Quistis' look, Selphie immediately jumped up to defend herself. "Look, Quisty, I'm tired. I've been studying all day; don't you think you could give me a break? I mean, you let me take one break for lunch, and at that, you gave me roughly twenty minutes to run down to the cafeteria, eat, and make it back up here so that I could continue studying!!"  
"It's part of your training. You need to be able to successfully take orders and follow them, no matter how ridiculous they seem at the time," the instructor stated, matter-of-factly.  
"Come on! Loosen up!" Selphie grumbled, burying her nose back into 'A Rank for Dummies'.   
"Selphie has a good point, Quisty. You have been working her really hard today. Don't you think it's enough for one day?" Renee asked, standing up and placing the magazine back on Selphie's cluttered desk.  
With a sigh, Quistis flicked her shoes off of her feet and sat on Selphie's bed, cross-legged. "Okay, Selphie. Obviously you don't want to do this, and I'm sorry for getting you involved in it. But Cid expects you to take this test now, and I worked so hard to convince him that you are Rank A material, he actually pulled you from your detention after you broke Roxanne's nose!!"  
"It's broken!!?"  
"…Yes…let me finish."  
Selphie looked down at the floor, face bright red. "I didn't mean to hurt her…" she muttered.   
"Anyway, he has faith in you, a lot apparently because it isn't easy to convince him of anything."  
"But I got out of the detention and I'm not even planning on taking the test…" Renee said slowly, tapping her lip. "Not only that…I kinda helped start the entire fight…"  
"Yeah, I'm not sure how Seifer managed to convince Cid to relieve you from your detention…but I'm sure the fact that you just transferred benefited you more than anything. But it just goes to show that either Seifer has a good handle on him, or Cid is scared spitless of Seifer." Renee beamed at this last thought. "But, Selphie…" she continued, "If you don't do your damnedest to pass this test, I'm going to be the one who gets reprimanded…"  
The girl shuffled her feet, "I know, and I'll try. But you need lighten up a little, okay?"  
"I will not allow you to slack off! I don't want to sound mean, but your commanding officer is not going to 'lighten up' on you during a mission. Do you understand where I'm coming from?"  
"Yes," Selphie sighed.   
Renee pulled a chair over and set it next to the bed, so she could communicate easier. "So, what're we doing now?"  
"Let's quiz her," Quistis suggested. "I'll ask the questions and Renee, you check the answers."  
"Whoa, wait a minute. I'm not planning on becoming a Rank A SeeD, I know just as much about this stuff as Selphie."  
"I guess you have a point," Quistis rubbed the side of her face as she thought, "I have an idea. Didn't you say that you wanted to raise your rank?"  
"I was thinking of it…but the next test is too soon."  
"Well, you can use this as your alibi to Cid. Tell him that you're studying for your next exam and go do whatever you want," she beamed.  
"Quistis! You rebel!" both Selphie and Renee said simultaneously.  
"I would never expect to hear such words come from your mouth!"   
With a laugh, Quistis added, "Yeah, well just don't tell Cid and no one will ever know I said it."  
"I like the way you think," Renee laughed. "But I'm going to stick around here a bit longer. Or at least until dinnertime."

"Oh, speaking of which, I was thinking of having someone bring us dinner up here so that we can study more," Quistis said as if it were an excellent plan. Selphie, on the other hand, felt like beating her head against the nearest solid surface.

"You have got to be kidding. You might as well put me under house arrest, my God!"

"You know, Selphie, that sounds like a good idea…" Quistis grinned evilly.

Selphie glared at Quistis with utmost loathing. If looks could kill, Quistis' appendages would have been ripped off, decimated, then burned, while what remained of her body would be cut into bite size pieces, fed to the Grats and peed on by the T-Rexaur.

Quistis shivered under that look. "Sheez, it was just a joke." Still, Selphie's glare didn't change, so the instructor sighed. "Well, how about this, if whomever we send to fetch dinner needs help with carrying it or something, then I'll send you. Deal?"

Selphie pretended to think about it. She had already formulated a plan to make absolutely sure that whomever was sent would _have _to ask for assistance. She smiled a slightly evil smile, which instantly sent chills down the blonde's spine. "Deal!"

Squall was just standing up to dump his tray into the trash bin when the cell phone at his hip rang. Everyone who had been enjoying his or her dinner in the cafeteria watched him as he brought the device up to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Squall, it's Quistis. Will you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Well, you see, we've been in Selphie's dorm studying all day and we were wondering if you'd bring us up some dinner?"

"We'll pay you back, of course!" Renee's voice added in.

"Sure, I don't care…" he said, dumping the food from his tray into the trash and then placing it on the counter for the lunch ladies to wash. "What do you guys want?"

"I want a turkey sandwich with lettuce and _no _cheese!" Renee yelled.

"I think I'm leaning more in the direction of a salad…" he heard Quistis say slowly. "How about you, Selph?"

While Selphie thought, Squall walked over to a lunch lady who didn't have a line and started to order. "I want a turkey sandwich with lettuce and no cheese…a salad…"

"What kind of dressing?" the elderly woman asked.

"What kind of dressing, Quistis?" he asked into the phone.

"Fat-free Ranch!"

"Fat-free Ranch…" he repeated to the lunch lady.

She smiled and pressed it into the computer. "Anything else?"

"Selphie, have you decided yet?"

"Um…" her voice came from the phone. "I think I'll have some pepperoni pizza…"

"Pepperoni pizza…" he told the lunch lady, but as soon as the words escaped his lips Quistis was shrieking in his ear.

"Don't order that! She needs brain food! Did you order it already!?"

"Can I take that order back?"

The cafeteria woman shook her head, "They're already making it in the kitchen."

"Get her a salad!" Quistis continued.

"No way! I'm not eating a salad! Yuck!"

"Brain food, Selph. Brain food!" You're studying for an important exam!"

"I don't care! If you want me to _live _through the next few days of studying, you'll let me get what I want!"

Squall sighed and continued to listen to the argument. The lunch lady was looking at him expectantly.

"She's trying to decide…" he whispered, pointing to his phone.

"It's fattening and unhealthy!" Quistis continued, "Order something else!"

"Look at this!" Selphie yelled, and Squall heard everyone in her dorm gasp.

"Put your shirt down, Selph!" Renee exclaimed.

"What the-," Squall mumbled, his eyes widened. What the hell were they _doing!?_

"Good God! They shouldn't poke out like that, Selph!"

"That's what I've been saying!"

"Okay, Squall, you still there?" Quistis asked.

The commander managed a very awkward, "Yeah…" He didn't know _why _he was still there. The conversation was getting _way _too awkward for him.

"Get this child a tub of lard to eat, Hyne!"

"Ewww! That's gross, Quisty!"

"How about a steak…?" Renee added in.

The lunch lady cleared her throat as if reminding Squall that she was still waiting.

"No…I want…Ramen!"

"Ramen…" he sighed, looking at the agitated woman.

"Flavor?" she asked.

By this point, Squall felt like hitting his head against something hard. He knew that this would just take longer.

"What flavor, Selphie?" he sighed into his cell.

"Let's see…miso? No…um, chicken! Naw…that's what I had last time."

Everything she was saying, Squall spewed out to the cafeteria lady. He knew that he was racking up the price, but the damn lunch lady wouldn't let him take the orders back!"

"Oriental…?" she continued.

"Hurry up and make your decision!" Renee laughed, "I'm hungry!"

"Fine! I'll just have the pizza!" she sighed exasperatedly.

By this point, Squall had most likely ordered about five bowls of different flavors of ramen, and in the end, she went with her original order. Pizza. Not only was the lunch lady fed up with his 'pokiness', but he was sure that he had dodged something aimed at his head at one point, coming from the kitchen.

"Your total comes to thirty gil."

"WHAT!?"

"Please wait for your food."

Squall reached into his billfold and pulled out the money. It wasn't as if he couldn't afford it, but thirty gil was a lot for dinner at Garden. He handed the currency over to the elderly woman and in return, a few moments later she and another lunch lady brought him two trays of food.

They must have seen the look on his face because one of them said, "You ordered it, you carry it."

"Guess what?" he said into his phone. "They're making me take _all _of the food you ordered, and I don't have enough hands to carry it all alone."

"YEAH!" Selphie exclaimed, "I'm on it!"

"Well…she was excited…" Renee laughed.

"Congratulations, Squall. You've made her day," Quistis giggled as well.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen, Rinoa and Roxanne were working their hardest to keep up with demands. Apparently, they weren't washing dishes fast enough, so the lunch ladies came in and took over that job. Instead, they were supposed to help prepare the meals.

Rinoa was stirring a big pot full of chili so that it wouldn't burn or stick to the bottom, while Roxanne bustled here and there, looking around for ingredients to add. And, much to Rinoa's dislike, the redhead hadn't shut up for the entire detention.

She knew that detentions weren't supposed to be pleasant, but she also knew they weren't meant to torture the student serving them. Roxanne talked about a number of different things, each and every one of them got more and more on the brunette's nerves. But one in particular was really starting to anger her.

"And that Selphie girl. Just because she's in the group that supposedly 'saved the planet' she thinks she can get away with anything she wants!"

"You know, I was in that group too," Rinoa said quietly.

Roxanne pretended like she hadn't heard her. "Then you've got that anal retentive instructor. My God! She's _always _getting on my case, just because I forget an assignment or two…"

_That anal retentive teacher you speak of just so happens to be one of my best friends, _Rinoa thought bitterly.

"And don't get me started on the high and mighty 'Mr. Commander!' He's even worse than that little Tilmitt girl! I swear! What a _dog_!"

By this point, Rinoa was so fed up with listening to Roxanne insult her friends like that; even if she hadn't spoken to some of them in a while, she was not going to stand by and let Roxanne say any more horrible things. She pulled the wooden spoon from the chili and with a gasp spun, letting the hot food fly onto Roxanne's shirt.

"Rinoa!" she screamed angrily.

"I'm _so _sorry," Rinoa said in a breathy voice, yet making sure that her sarcasm was noticeable. "There was a mouse, and it startled me…"

Roxanne glowered at her; she knew what the brunette had really been thinking. "Do you not trust me? I'm the one who saw him leave her room!"

"You have no right to say those things about them. You don't know any of them!"

"So then, you are going to _actually _believe her? Fine, whatever, be naïve, I don't really care," the redhead sneered, folding her arms across her chest.

Rinoa returned the same look and threw the spoon at her. Without looking behind her, she walked over to the nearest cafeteria lady. "Can I work somewhere else?"

Having been around for many detentions, the woman knew what had most likely happened and said, "They're grilling the hotdogs over there, if you want to do that."

Rinoa nodded and thanked her. Then, she walked as far away from Roxanne as possible. "That girl's words are poisonous," she growled to herself. "I feel like such an ass. Now I _know _I have to talk to Selphie…" she sighed. The only problem was actually _talking _to her, especially now that Rinoa was embarrassed to admit that she should have trusted Selphie and Squall all along.

"I'm heeere!" Selphie exclaimed, jumping into the cafeteria. She looked around until she finally saw Squall. She beamed and bounded over to him.

"Well, you've got a lot of pent up energy."

"I've been in my dorm almost all day, what do you expect?"

Squall shrugged and Selphie picked up the other tray that was waiting for her. "It's a good thing that the dorms aren't too far away, otherwise these would've gotten cold," she smiled.

As they walked out, Selphie started laughing again. No doubt she was really happy, apparently he had saved her from almost sure house arrest. "Man, and Quistis actually expected me to eat a salad! Ew! That is so gross. I don't like anything green…to eat that is. Do you know how I convinced her to let me get something else?"

Actually, the commander _had _been curious, but he was still almost afraid to know what she had done. Renee's exclamation of 'Put your shirt down, Selph!' was still imprinted into his brain.

"I showed them my hip bones! You wanna see too!? I don't know whether they're gross or cool, but they stick straight out!"

"Your hipbones?" he tried not to laugh, but couldn't hold it. Hipbones would have been the last thing he guessed after hearing the conversation from the wrong side of the phone.

"Yeah! You wanna see? They're pure bone!"

Selphie awkwardly tried to balance the tray in one hand so that she could lift her shirt up just slightly to show off her hip. Sure enough, her hipbones jutted out in front of her in a very odd fashion.

"Is that healthy?" he asked.

"Well, I feel fine. And it isn't like I don't eat. I'm just…"

"Unbelievably skinny?" he finished for her.

"Yeah!" she beamed, then she changed subjects completely. "Hey, do you mind if we run to the Training Center? I left Rocks there with a little boy this morning, and Quistis hasn't been very good about letting me out of the dorm."

"This morning?"

"Yeah, he was upset and Rocks cheered him up. Besides, Rocks didn't want to leave, so I told him that he could play with Rocks if he wanted to."

"That dog has been in the Training Center almost all day?" he asked, wide eyed.

"Well, yeah, but when you say it in that tone, it gets me worried. Oh no! What if Rocks was eaten!? And the little boy!?" she exclaimed.

"Calm down, we'll go check on them."

"The food'll get cold!"

"Eat your pizza while we walk. The turkey sandwich and salad are already cold. I'm just worried about what we're going to do with all this ramen."

"I have a plan," she smiled.

From then on out, every person that they approached Selphie would ask, "Would you like some ramen?"

It was a good thing for them that ramen tasted so darn good, because they managed to get rid of it pretty quickly. But when they were getting ready to walk into the Training Center, Squall noticed something happening ahead. It appeared that someone was being pulled out of the fountain in the center of the walkway and put onto a stretcher.

Squall and Selphie glanced at each other, then forgetting all notions of what they were originally going to do, ran over to see what was going on. When they got there, they saw a frantic Kadowaki putting a bloody body on a stretcher, but whoever it was, seemed to be struggling against her.

Selphie covered her mouth with her hand, almost as if stopping a scream. The person looked back and they both automatically recognized her to be Arisu. "Selphie, help me!" she said.

"What happened!?"

Desperately, Arisu continued to struggle against Kadowaki and a team of SeeDs who were all trying to hold her against the stretcher. "Tell them that I'm okay!"

"You're not okay! What happened to her, Kadowaki!?"

"We aren't sure," the doctor answered, tiredly. "Cid found her, as he put it, 'floating in the fountain'."

"But I'm not hurt! I'm fine! See, I'll get up! I can walk!"

"Oh dear, the poor child's delusional."

The SeeDs pushed her down a second time and started to lead her off.

"Selphie!!! Help!!" Arisu lifted her head and yelled.

The two traded glances again and followed behind, anxious to find out what happened. As they were nearing the infirmary, Sae came running around a corner and nearly ran head on into one of the SeeDs carrying the stretcher.

"No…wait…Kadowaki!" she said, between gasps for breath. "You…have it…all wrong…" but before she could finish what she was about to say, she collapsed.

Kadowaki looked at Squall. "Squall, would you please…" He knew what she was going to ask, so before the doctor even finished her statement, he bent down and picked Sae up and carried her to the infirmary as well.

Kadowaki and her crew carefully transferred the still complaining Arisu to an infirmary bed. "Get me some wet towels," she called to one of her assistants, "we need to find out where the bleeding is coming from!! Squall, just set Sae in that chair over there. Is she conscious?"

Selphie glanced at her friend; Sae was indeed blinking and looking around confusedly. "She's conscious," she announced.

"Good, good…" Kadowaki said quickly. A SeeD ran into the room with some wet towels and immediately, the doctor started wiping the blood from Arisu. "Sae, can you tell me what happened exactly?"

"Well…" she started slowly, but Dr. Kadowaki interrupted her.

"This isn't blood!" she exclaimed, staring down at the towel. After examining it for a big, she yelled, "It's paint!"

"I told you! I'm fine!" Arisu yelled.

Kadowaki rolled her eyes and threw the towels down at her. "That sure gave me a scare. Clean that paint off of your skin." Then she walked out, shaking her head.

Selphie wasn't sure whether to laugh or let out a gigantic sigh of relief. She really had thought something horrible had happened to Arisu. "So what happened?"

"I'm going to kill Nida," Arisu grumbled.

"Oh, were you his latest art project?" Selphie giggled.

"No! He made us substitute for the newbies!"

"Oh…" Squall said. He knew that couldn't have been very much fun.

"It wasn't that bad…" Sae laughed.

"That's what _she_ thinks!" Arisu continued, still wiping the red paint from her arms. "While her half of the kids sat on one side of the room reading 'The Lorax', I was trying to keep my kids from tearing the pages out of the books! While they were finger painting, I was dodging paintballs!"

"They were five years old," Sae shook her head, though she was still smiling.

"They were demonic children. I thought it was just my half of the classroom, so we switched…" Arisu said, then she paused as if recalling a painful memory. "I think Sae's half was worse!"

"I'm good with kids," Sae beamed. "I just don't particularly like them."

"Well, gee, you sure gave us quite the scare. I thought you had been mauled by some monster."

"I might as well have been!" Arisu screamed.

"What were you doing in the fountain?" Squall asked.

"I felt dirty! I needed to wash some of the paint off, and I was so tired I didn't want to go all the way to my dorm," the blond whined.

"But then Cid saw her 'floating', went into hysterics and called Kadowaki. I tried to cut her off and stop her before she made it to where we were, but I ran in the wrong direction. By the time I got there, Kadowaki had already loaded her onto the stretcher…and you guys know the rest."

Selphie was laughing really hard at this point. "You don't like children? What a shame!"

"Don't laugh! It isn't funny!" Arisu exclaimed, throwing the now red towel at Selphie's head. "I _could_ have died."

"At the hands of five year olds?" Selphie continued to laugh.

"They're being trained to become mercenaries one day, aren't they?!"

Arisu's last point had been a good one, so Selphie had straightened back up. "Okay, are you ready to go to the Training Center?" she asked Squall. He nodded.

"The Training Center, huh?" an all-too-familiar voice said from behind.

If Selphie had been a turtle, she would have crawled inside her shell. "Quistis?"

"So, you were planning on ditching studying?"

"No! I was going to pick up Rocks! He's been in the Training Center all day!"

Renee came up from behind Quistis. "Jeez, you run fast Quisty!" she exclaimed, then looked at the bedded girls. "What happened to you two?" she asked.

"Oh, it was horrible!…" Arisu began.

Quistis took the dinner tray from Squall, grabbed Selphie by the back of the shirt and began dragging her back out of the infirmary. "You know what, Quisty? You sure haven't been very nice lately," Selphie said. She had managed to get Quistis to let go of her and she was walking beside the instructor. Both were carrying the trays.

Quistis smiled softly, "You know I don't mean to be, but I _am_ a strict teacher. And you'll have to put up with that until after the Rank A exam."

"I don't want to take the stupid exam," she grumbled.

"I know, I know…"

As they were walking back to the dorms, Selphie realized that Squall was still back in the infirmary. Or, at least, wherever he was, he sure wasn't anywhere near her and Quistis.

"Wait for me, you two!" Renee exclaimed. Quistis and Selphie stopped and Renee finally caught up with them. "Those two girls are something, aren't they?"

"Definitely," Quistis agreed.

"I think this is their best story yet. It ranks up there with them knocking Nida out with the barbell!" she laughed.

Selphie joined her in laughter, and added, "Well, Nida better watch out, because I'm sure that if Arisu was able, she would knock him out with something much bigger than a barbell. It would be an entire dumbbell! He's the one who made them substitute teach for detention."

The three finally made it back to Selphie's dorm, and they all sat on the floor and began to eat.

"Yum, there's nothing I like better than cold pizza," Selphie said, sarcastically.

"It's your fault, you're the one who was trying to spend as much time with Squall as possible," Renee teased.

"I did not!" Selphie yelled, defensively, "…Okay, so maybe that was half of the reason that it took so long. But, Hyne, if you saw what you thought to be a bloody body being pulled out of the Garden fountain, what would you two have done?!"

Quistis shrugged and Renee smiled and nudged Selphie with her elbow. "Excuses, excuses…"

"Oh yeah, that's it."

She turned the television on and started flipping through the channels, before landing on a cartoon. "You're seventeen, Selph. You shouldn't still be watching cartoons," Quistis stated.

"Correction: I'm sixteen, Quisty, and who made up that stupid rule anyway?"

"Oh yeah, Nida told me all about that. I'm surprised at you, Selphie."

The smaller SeeD shrugged and pretended to be engrossed in an old rerun of 'Tom and Jerry'. There wasn't any talking between the three for a while, until there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Selphie said, chewing up the last bite of her pizza. She walked over to the door and opened it up and was automatically jumped on by a dog. "Surprise," Squall said, with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Rocks! Hey boy! How're you?" she exclaimed petting the dog. Rocks was standing over her and was already attacking her with slobbery doggy kisses. "And you have another visitor," Squall announced.

He looked over to his side but she couldn't see anyone. After she managed to push the dog off of her, she stood up and looked in the hallway and it seemed empty. "Who is it?"

Squall looked shook his leg a bit and said, "You can come on out, she won't bite you." From behind one of his pant legs a head peaked out. It was the same little boy from earlier that morning. "Hi, Brian!" she smiled, rubbing the hair on his head. "Thank you so much for taking such good care of Rocks for me!"

"You're welcome…" he said, blushing and hiding his head behind Squall again.

"I don't know why he's so shy," Squall shook his head.

"You were the same way when you were little," Selphie laughed. "You used to hide behind Matron all the time. Remember?"

Squall grunted, but didn't answer.

"You hear that kiddo? You may be shy now, I'll bet you grow up to be just as cool and powerful as Commander Leonhart!" she beamed down at him.

Brian smiled really big, but continued to hold tightly onto Squall's pant leg. "Th-Thank you…"

"Well, I'll walk him back to his quarters."

"I'll go with you!" she said, stepping out with him.

"Be back in a bit, Quisty!"

The instructor opened her mouth to argue, but Renee elbowed her in the side. "Let it slide, she won't be long."

"You are a very good dog-sitter, Brian!" she smiled at him. "I may have you watch over Rocks more often!"

"O-Okay," he stuttered.

Selphie smiled up at Squall and the two led the little boy to the block where all of the newbies bunked. There was a huge room that was filled with many, many bunk beds and a folding screen that separated the boys' section from the girls'.

"Here ya go, kiddo!" Selphie beamed. "It was nice meeting you!" She held her hand out for a low five, but he merely glanced at it, then back at Squall, still gripping his pants.

"Bye," Squall said boringly and watched as Brian ran over to what must have been his bunk bed.

The two watched him for a few seconds before turning around to go back.

"Cool and powerful, huh?"

"Well, I could have said 'and sexy to boot' too, but I'm not so sure what that would do to someone of his age," she winked.

She noticed Squall blush slightly, but then he averted his eyes to the ground. After an awkward pause, he finally said his trademark, "Whatever."

They stopped in front of Selphie's dorm. "See ya, Squall!" she waved.

"Bye. Good luck with your studying," he waved and disappeared down the hall.

She walked in to both Renee and Quistis standing, arms crossed, waiting for an explanation. "So you kissed, now tell!" Renee squealed.

"Okay, so I obviously can't accuse you of watching," Selphie laughed.

"Aw, well if you didn't kiss, then we're not interested," Quistis sighed, plopping down on the ground.

"Alright. That's fine," she beamed, leaning her head against her bed.

Two more weeks of studying before the exam, and somehow, she didn't seem to mind anymore.

That's all folks, and thanks again for putting up with our slowness. We're truly, very sorry that it took us so long to update. Forgive us? ::Dodges random objects:: But...do remember to leave us a review.

**Draic**: Wow, it's great that you're reading and actually enjoying this story. Don't think of it as that we hate Rinoa, because we really don't. But it's for the sake of the storyline, and we're trying our hardest to keep everyone in character, which is hard enough in itself. We don't make Rinoa do anything that we don't believe she would actually do. Anywho, we're glad you've enjoyed it thus far. (And by the way, thanks for the compliment on Rocks and our character development.)

**Jordan Herrick**: You named characters in your story after Sae and Arisu? Or after Fujin and Raijin? In any case, that's really cool. o

**Bittersweet Mika**: Most of the humor we use in this story comes from real life experience. (Except the thunder spell in the elevator…hehe, though that would be quite the story to tell everyone).

**Manda**: That would be awesome if you want to send us your drawings! We'd be very happy to see them! (**Selphie108**: We looked at that picture you told us to look at, and that was very cute too!) Thank you to **A Fire Inside Girl and CheriChicola, **who has already submitted their artwork!

**Ferret mage: **I'm happy that the story and in-characterization is to your liking. It's always great to hear that people think that we do a good job keeping them in character; it helps us to continue without worrying too much. o

**Elvi-Rose:** Well, we suppose that the best way to separate the Irvine haters from the Irvine lovers is to bash on him in a story. Hehe. So you're another Irvine hater? That's great! o So far the only Irvine lover that we know personally is our friend, Mickayla (author Micky-chan…check out her stuff if you have time!)

**Elcyion-Pitye: **We definitely agree that there needs to be more Squalphie authors. But until we have converted more people to reading them, we need to just keep writing them and make sure that the pairing is always on ff.net! o

So far we have a total of three Squalphie pictures uploaded onto our website! If you would like to see them for yourself, just click on the link in our profile! And if you are interested in submitting your own art, just email us at CuteMooglezhotmail.com! If you go to our website, then please sign our guestbook!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Shoot, everyone, that was all my fault.  I was EXTREMELY tired when updating this and I completely forgot to save it as a webpage document, and I uploaded it as a normal Microsoft Word Document.  Super sorry, sumimasen, please forgive me.

Chapter 9

Selphie awoke due to a persistent beating on her door.  Wearily, she lifted her head and mumbled, "It's open."

The door flew open and immediately the girl heard a screeching voice cry, "Your dog impregnated my dog!!"  Rinoa was standing in her doorframe, pointing an accusing finger at the younger girl.

Selphie lifted her head a second time, utterly confused, and her drowsiness didn't do anything to help the matter.  She closed her eyes tightly and reopened them and suddenly everything came together in her mind.  She wasn't sleeping in her bed; instead she had fallen asleep at her desk the previous night.  "Angelo started acting strange a few days ago, so I took her in to see the vet yesterday, and she's pregnant!  Your mutt is the only other dog in the entire facility!!"

Selphie wasn't paying any attention to her however.  She had just taken notice of the time.  "Oh, Hyne!" Selphie squealed, jumping from the desk chair.  "The exam!  It's in ten minutes!"

"I'm not done talking with you yet, Selphie!" Rinoa roared.

"Sorry, Rinny!" the smaller girl said quickly.  She ran to her closet, threw open the door and yanked out the first pair of jeans and shirt that were in sight.  Already she could hear Quistis' scolding voice, 'Tardiness is not Rank A material!'

"Are you even listening to me!!?" Rinoa continued to yell, as Selphie ran into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.  "I had to pay a veterinarian fee of one hundred and fifty gil so that some weirdo in a white lab coat and glasses could tell me that my dog is pregnant!"

"I'm sorry, Rinny, what do you want me to do about it?" Selphie yelled back through the closed bathroom door.  Hurriedly, she zipped up her jeans, discarding her pajama pants on the floor.

"Well, for starters, you can pay me back for the doctor's exam!"

Selphie groaned upon hearing the word 'exam'.  As fast as she could, she yanked an orange tank top on, ran a brush through her hair and opened the bathroom door.

"I don't have any money at the moment," Selphie admitted, throwing her pajamas into a hamper sitting in her closet.  "Otherwise you know I would."

"Get that damn dog of yours fixed then!" Rinoa seethed, pointing at Rocks who had backed into a corner.

"What's wrong with you?" Selphie sighed, running her toothbrush under the faucet.  "Your dog's having puppies, you should be happy!  Excited!  Something!"

"It's not your dog!  I rely on Angelo in battle!  She's useless when pregnant!  Not only that, there is an average of six puppies in a litter.  That's six more animals _I _have to feed, take care of, and pay for!"

"Well, then give them away when they're old enough," the girl suggested as she hurriedly started to brush her teeth.  "If you nee hewp, Ah can hewp take care ob dem," she said around the toothbrush.

Rinoa rolled her eyes.  "And what do you think I should do about the expenses?  You SeeDs get salaries, as long as I'm here I don't get any money!"

Selphie was getting fed up with her and was on the verge of screaming at her to leave Garden and get a job.  Or, for Hyne's sake, she could always apply to be SeeD.  But it almost seemed as if Rinoa enjoyed freeloading around Garden, enjoying her free lodgings and meals that she recieved for being a client.

Rolling her eyes, Selphie spat the excess toothpaste into the sink, ran out of the bathroom and sat on her bed, where she began putting on her socks and boots.  She turned her head and shot Rocks an apologetic look, "Sorry, pup," she said to the dog, "I'm not going to be able to take you to the Training Center until after the test, it shouldn't be too long."

"Selphie, I'm still talking to you!" Rinoa said, reminding the SeeD that she was still in the room.

"Hyne, I know, I know."

She stood away from the bed and glanced around, wondering if she needed to bring anything to the test.  _I knew I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night.  Hyne, what demon possessed me that made me actually study…on my own free will!?  Typically  I  can hardly bring myself to study when Quistis is breathing fire down my neck!  Oh man, I don't have time for breakfast…Kadowaki would kill me if she finds out that skipped breakfast again._

Selphie continued to grumble many other incoherent things to herself as she stalked out of her room and down the hall.  Rinoa, who was still following behind her, was still complaining about the veterinarian's bill, puppies, and her life in general.

Yet, since the girl's mind was in a completely different place, all she heard was snippets of what Rinoa was saying.  So it sounded more like "Blah, blah, money…blah, puppies," to her than anything else.

Temporarily forgetting her phobia of the elevator, Selphie stepped inside, almost hoping that Rinoa, who was about five steps behind her, wouldn't be able to make it in time.  Her hopes were crushed when Rinoa shoved her boot in front of the elevator's closing metallic doors.

"And pregnancy is a stressful part of any female's life!  What if it does long term damage to her?"

"Why didn't you have Angelo fixed if you're so worried about the long term effects?" Selphie finally snapped back.

Rinoa appeared to be taken aback by this comment, and for a second she stood in the elevator next to Selphie, chewing on the inside of her lip and, arms folded and tapping an impatient finger against her upper arm.

The elevator jerked to a halt on the second floor and the doors slid open.  Selphie bounded out and ran for the classroom, Rinoa still stalking behind.  "Wait, Selphie, don't run from me!  I'm not done yet!"

"Yes you are!  I can't talk anymore, Rin!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Oh, no you don't!"

Selphie reached the classroom door and ducked inside.  However, Rinoa did the same.  Edea sat at the desk, her face devoid of all emotion, and her honey colored eyes completely empty.  In the room another five high-ranking SeeDs sat, awaiting her arrival.  "Good of you to join us, Ms. Tilmitt," the ex-sorceress cooed.

"I'm so sorry, ma'am," Selphie said between gasps for breath, bowing low to emphasize her point.

"Why, Rinoa, do you intend to take the Rank A exam as well?" Edea asked, directing her piercing stare at Rinoa.

"N-No, I was just talking to…"

"Wait outside then," the woman said, more forcibly than she probably meant.

Wide-eyed, Rinoa nodded and darted out of the classroom.

Still panting, Selphie sat down in an unoccupied chair, next to Nida.

"Hello, children," Edea said with a wispy voice, standing up from the leather chair.  "For those that do not know who I am, my name is Edea Kramer, Cid's wife."

A thin, almost inaudible 'ooh' resonated throughout the room.  One of the SeeDs in particular looked very uncomfortable.  No doubt he remembered her as Sorceress Edea, the woman who single handedly took over Galbadia, assassinated the president and wreaked havoc between Galbadia and Balamb Garden.  Selphie on the other hand, simply knew her as Matron.

Edea nonchalantly threw a lock of her thick black hair over her shoulder and straightened out her dress.  "I will be giving this exam."

The boy on Selphie's other side gulped and uneasily raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"I changed my mind," he stammered out.  "I don't think I'm ready for the test."

"You're excused then," she sighed.  Stumbling over his chair, the boy reached down and shakily picked up his backpack. Then, still trembling, he left the room.  "Is there anyone else who wishes to not participate?"

Everyone else didn't seem to be fazed by the ex-sorceress.  In unison, everyone in the room said, "No, ma'am."

"Good, good."  She turned for the desk to pick up the papers, when she was distracted by something out the window.  Selphie squinted to see what it was that the woman was looking at, but couldn't find it.  Edea was definitely an eccentric woman.  After a short silence, she realized that she was spacing off and apologized to the class.

Gracefully, she picked up the exams from the oak desk and handed them to each of the students.  The exams, Selphie noted, were relatively thick and heavy.  "Remember, you are welcome to leave at any time during the test.  But once you give up, you are not allowed to come back for the test until next year when it is offered again."

The SeeDs nodded simultaneously.  Edea glanced at the clock, and back to the students.  "You have until approximately eleven o'clock to complete the test.  The test is worth half of your grade.  The other half is completely dependant on the final question, which will be administered after the test has been completed."

Selphie stared wide-eyed at the packet.  She was giving them almost three hours to take this test, and yet Selphie was almost sure that with something that thick, three hours may not be enough.

"You may begin."

At once, everyone opened their booklet and started working their way through it.  Selphie was glad to note that Quistis did an excellent job in preparing her for the questions.  She knew most of the answers.  Yet, as the test dragged out, she found that the questions got more and more difficult.  There was a lot more math involved  than she had expected.  There was also quite a bit of 'What does paragraph 6, line 4 of the Balamb Garden Code state?'

She was stuck on one particular question for almost ten minutes.  She sat there, debating in her mind what she should write down as an answer.  Exasperatedly, she blew air through her mouth, ran her fingers through her chestnut colored bangs, and glanced up at the clock.  It seemed to have been stuck at nine thirty, but she thought that there couldn't be any way that she got there only an hour ago.  It seemed like an eternity.  She stared angrily at the clock.  The second hand went forward, once space, two spaces, then, she swore to Hyne she saw it leap back a space.  She raised her eyebrows and continued to watch the second hand.  Forward two spaces, back one, forward two, back one.  _Clock's broken…wonder how much time we have left.  Does Matron have a stopwatch up there?  Or is she relying on the broken clock?  Hyne, if she is we'll be in here three times longer than we're supposed to!_

With a growing headache, she looked back at the question and the answer came to her.  Beaming with pride, she scribbled down the answer and continued on to the next question.  The more she went, the more she realized that she needed food, or something to drink.  A dry taste was forming in her mouth, and she had the strange desire to completely down an entire gallon of water.

Throughout the entire test, students would throw down their pencil, get an upset look on their face, and leave the room.  Nida was one of them.  He sighed and picked up the packet. Then he walked over to Edea, who had been sitting at the desk filing her long nails.  "Finished?" she whispered.

"No, ma'am…" he admitted.

With a weak and lopsided smile, she tossed the test into the trashcan.  As Nida walked past Selphie he gave her a reassuring smile and left the room.

By the time Edea said, "Pencils down," there was only one other person in the room other than her.  Selphie, who had actually finished the test somewhat early, looked up from her book at the dark haired woman.  On her side, a boy, who seemed to be Squall's age, seemed very anxious as she collected the two tests.

Gingerly, she placed the packets atop her desk and turned to face the two SeeDs.  "Now, for the final question…"  Both Selphie and boy tensed up and sat more rigid in their chairs.  "Before I tell you, you must realize the risk of answering it."

Selphie gulped in a huge breath of air and listened intently.

"You have a choice right now, you may leave or answer the question, but this is the risk.  If you leave, then you can take the quiz again next year, but if you stay and answer the question incorrectly you will never be able to qualify to take the Rank A exam again."

Selphie felt her jaw drop.  Never be able to take the exam again?  Wasn't that just a little harsh?  She remembered Quistis warning her about the final question, but the instructor never actually talkedabout the risk it involved.  Selphie and the boy traded nervous glances. The boy's brow was sweating from anxiety and Selphie could feel her heart sink.  She promised Quistis that she would do her best to pass this exam; she couldn't give up now.

"I-I…" the boy stuttered, "I'm leaving…"

Selphie watched him ruefully as he sauntered through the doors.  Now, Matron turned her honey eyes on her, staring expectantly at the girl.

"How about you, Ms. Tilmitt?" she asked delicately.

Taking a shuddering breath, Selphie looked up and said, "I'm staying."

Edea beamed and wrote something down on a clipboard.  "Thank you, Ms. Tilmitt, your results should be posted at lunch."

"B-But…what about…what about the final question?"

"That was it," Matron smiled and sat on the desk.

"But…it wasn't a question!"

"Yes, it was the major part of the test, and you didn't even realize it," she smiled and crossed her thin pale legs over one another.  "During a mission you have to take risks, and once you take a risk, you can't take it back.  That's what the final question was testing.  Were you willing to take a risk?  Were you willing to give your all for something that you know could forever ruin you?  And you passed with flying colors.  That is the hardest part of the Rank A exam.  Congratulations, Ms. Tilmitt.  You are dismissed."

Breathless and speechless Selphie stared at Edea, mouth agape in pure shock.  In her mind the final question was supposed to be extremely difficult.  Maybe math, with huge long formulas, or one of those survival tests, perhaps even a dangerous battle with an extremely fierce monster.  Never did she think that she would be tested based on her 'bravery' or 'willingness to take risks'.

"You are dismissed, Ms. Tilmitt," Edea repeated, chuckling quietly.

Selphie stood up from her desk, and as if she was treading through mud, dragged herself to the door.  She was feeling lightheaded again, not just from the absence of her breakfast, but also from the sheer surprise and delight of passing at least the final part of the exam.  "Oh, and Selphie, dear.  Not a word of the final question to anyone," Matron called after her.

She nodded, and opened the door.  Waiting for her in the hall was a very peeved Rinoa, and as soon as the girl set foot in the hall, the brunette began to pummel her with more complaints and problems.  Selphie's entire brain seemed to fog over.  Her eyes kept going in and out of focus without her effort, and it felt as if someone clamped their hands over her ears and was pressing with all their might on either side of her head.  She couldn't hear anything, and what she could hear seemed to echo within her skull.  She saw Rinoa's lips moving, but didn't understand the words coming from her mouth.  The lightheaded sensation was taking over the girl and helplessly she brought her hands up to her ears, as if trying to rip away the invisible hands that already had their grips on her.

Rinoa's eyes went from angry to worried as she watched Selphie, but she couldn't respond quickly enough when the SeeD fell forward with a loud and sickening thud.  She did manage, however, to catch her head before it hit the hard tile floor.

"Oh, Hyne, Selph…" Rinoa fussed, carefully slinging the younger girl's arm around her own neck and dragging her down the hall.  "Someone, help!" Rinoa called down the empty hallway.  "Selphie passed out!"

There was no response.  It was a weekend, no one was up in the classrooms on Saturdays unless they were taking tests, and the exams were already done and taken.  "Mrs. Kramer!" Rinoa exclaimed, looking in the direction of the room that Selphie had just come out of.  "Mrs. Kramer!  Help!"

Edea poked her head out of the door and when she saw Selphie's unconscious form slumped against Rinoa, she gasped and covered her mouth with a bony hand.  "I'll call Dr. Kadowaki."

It wasn't long before a team of SeeD paramedics shot out of the elevator, carrying a stretcher.  Rinoa and Edea helped place Selphie's limp body on it and followed the crowd down to the infirmary.  Upon their arrival, Kadowaki gestured for them to all go inside one of the recovery rooms, and they did as she motioned, depositing Selphie on the white bed.

"How'd that happen?" Edea asked, occupying one of the stools in the room.

"I'm not sure," Rinoa said slowly, hoping that she didn't have anything to do with it.  After all, she hadn't been necessarily fair to her that morning, following her around and demanding unreasonable things from her.

Kadowaki bustled into the room and looked at Selphie, then shook her head.  "That's the second time in two weeks …" she sighed.  "Rinoa, do you know whether or not she ate this morning?"

"Um…" the brunette flushed a light red, she knew Selphie's history of hypoglycemia.  "No, ma'am.  She was running late for an exam she was supposed to take."

"Will she be okay?" Edea asked the doctor, her voice faint.

"She'll be fine.  But, my goodness, if this child doesn't start remembering to eat her meals, I swear I'll start feeding her through IVs."

Rinoa cringed.  "I wouldn't do that…she doesn't like needles."

"Then you need to tell her to start eating!"

"It isn't as if she skips meals intentionally, Dr. Kadowaki," Rinoa said quietly.  "She isn't anorexic or anything."

"I know that, Rinoa.  But if she doesn't start taking better care of her body, she might end up really hurting herself.  Do you realize how many brain cells are killed off due to passing out?"

Rinoa sighed, that sounded like a question that Quistis would ask.  "No, ma'am."

"A lot.  And brain cells do not regenerate themselves.  Once they're gone, they're gone."

"I'll talk to her, ma'am."

Kadowaki studied her for a few seconds before walking back into her office.  "Mickayla!" she shouted at the familiar redheaded nurse, "Get some wet towels and take them into Ms. Tilmitt's recovery room."

Edea reluctantly stood up.  "I really must go," she said, still in her airy voice.  "I have yet to put the exams into the computers."  Then, with a sort of dignified grace, she walked from the room, her black hair swaying behind her as she turned the corner.

Rinoa sat down in the seat that Edea had occupied until then and waited for Selphie to come to.  Mickayla clambered in, carrying wet towels and placed one on Selphie's forehead, then put the others in the sink.

"Will you be staying with her until she wakes up?" the red headed nurse asked.

"Yes…"

"Okay, please change out her towel every ten minutes or so until she wakes up," Mickayla smiled, then left the room.

Rinoa sighed and leaned back in the stool she inhabited.  Over the speakers in the room, boring music was playing.  Time clicked by on the clock, and Rinoa did as Mickayla had asked, alternating towels for her friend's forehead.  It was a pretty boring job, but she did not leave, she would feel too guilty if she did.

As she switched out the fifth towel or so, she found herself talking to the unconscious girl.

"Selph, you're more trouble than you're worth," she smiled half-heartedly.  "And…" her voice trailed off and became almost nonexistent, "I'm sorry about everything."  She scooted the stool closer to the bed.  "I should've believed you in the first place, Roxanne is a…" she didn't finish.  "Anyway, I'm sorry.  And I forgive you if you really do like Squall, he needs someone there for him, and I just couldn't do it anymore.  I hope that you make him happy, and I hope that you're happy with him."  Rinoa smiled slightly, but then it disappeared almost entirely.  "However, I'm still mad about Angelo being pregnant!"

With a sigh, the older girl stood up and rubbed her hands together.  "Yeah, that sounded good.  Now I just have to wait for her to wake up."

"Did you really mean all that, Rinny?"

Rinoa almost jumped completely out of her skin as she looked down to see Selphie holding the white infirmary sheets almost clear up to her chin, her eyes glistening with tears.

"How long were you listening?!"

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, sitting up, the wet towel falling from her forehead onto the sheets between her legs.  "I would've spoken up sooner, but I had such a bad headache that it felt like my entire brain was pulsing inside my skull!"

"How long were you listening?" Rinoa repeated, this time sitting back down in the stool.

"Um, right about when you said that I was more trouble than I was worth."

Rinoa's face once again flushed red.  "Well, that's my apology.  Take it or lose it, your choice."

"Oh, Rinny!  I'm so happy you don't hate me!"

"Hate you?" the brunette almost laughed.  "Selph, I think you're too worried about what others think of you, because there is not one person on the face of this world that could hate you entirely.  That would be a crime.  Face it, you're too nice."

"Roxanne hates me."

"Well…" Rinoa started slowly.  "I wouldn't say 'hate', it's too strong of a word.  In Roxanne's case, she…strongly dislikes you."

"It's the same thing…" Selphie murmured, bringing the wet cloth back up to her head, trying to dab the pain away.

"Not exactly."

Selphie shrugged and looked at the doorway, "Dr. Kadowaki!" she shouted into the office, "Could I get an aspirin?"

"Just a minute, Selphie," came Kadowaki's tired voice.

"Oh, by the way…" Rinoa giggled as they waited for Kadowaki to bring the medication.  "I'm supposed to tell you that you aren't allowed to skip out on meals.  If you continue to do so, the doctor'll start feeding you via IV tubes."

Selphie's eyes widened in horror.  "I hate needles!"

"That's what I told her."

"Do you remember when I had to get that shot when we were in Deling City because I got stung by some weird monster?  The doctors thought it might have been infected."

"Yeah, you passed out there too."

"…I hate needles…" the girl repeated.

"Then no more skipping out on meals, okay?"

Selphie sighed and nodded meekly.  "What time is it?"

Rinoa lifted her arm and shook her wrist so that the watch around it would slide down it.  "Almost noon."

Selphie gasped and jumped out of bed, "Results are posted at lunch!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down!" Rinoa laughed.  "I wouldn't leave until I had approval from Dr. Kadowaki if I were you."

The young SeeD pouted and lumbered into the main office, "Dr. Kadowaki, after I get that aspirin, can I go to the cafeteria for lunch?"

"Yes."

"Will you need to see me afterwards?"

"No, but you better eat a good lunch," the doctor warned as she filled up a small Dixie cup with water and handed it to her with a pill.  Selphie nodded and washed the small white pill down, then motioned for Rinoa to follow her out the door.

"So, you were taking the Rank A exam?" the brunette asked excitedly, following Selphie to the cafeteria.

"Yeah.  That was Quistis' excuse to make me take it.  I wouldn't have taken it had I had a choice, but she told Cid I was planning on taking it and he excused me from detention so that I could study."

"So that's why you weren't serving detention."

"Yeah."

"Well, detention is where I decided that I should apologize to you.  Roxanne was talking trash about almost everyone, so I decided that the fumes from her hairspray might've sunk too deep into her head and screwed up her brain.  In her mind everyone is an insignificant worm compared to her."

Selphie laughed and straightened out her shirt.  "That was a bit mean, don't you think?"

"No, it was the truth," Rinoa smiled down at her.

Still talking and giggling with each other, they turned into the cafeteria and stood in line to order their food.  Selphie glanced across the menu and decided that she would order some chicken strips, whereas Rinoa ordered a sandwich.

With their trays in tow, they glanced across the cafeteria and saw Zell and Quistis already sitting at a table.  Zell looked up and beaming, waved at Rinoa.  When he saw Selphie, she noticed that he almost choked on his hotdog.  The two girls sat down at the table.

"So, I see you two made up," Quistis smiled wide.  "When did this happen?"

"When she passed out."

"You passed out again!!?" the instructor yelled.  Now several heads turned to look at the group of four.

Selphie waved a hand dismissively at that topic, "Yeah, that's a long story…"

"Did you check your score yet?" Zell asked, opening another packet of ketchup for his hotdog.

"Oh, yeah!  No, I haven't yet, where're the results posted?"

Quistis jabbed a thumb over her shoulder and surely enough, on the other side of the cafeteria a piece of paper was hanging on the wall.  "I'll be right back!" she squealed, then bounded over to it.

Five names were listed down the paper.  She trailed her finger down the short list before she found her name.  'Selphie Tilmitt…84%…A Rank'.  "I DID IT!!!!" she yelled, throwing a fist into the air and jumping to emphasize her point.  She probably would have started dancing in her moment of ecstasy had not so many people already been looking at her.  She continued to stare unbelievingly at the list.  Nida's name was on there too.  'Nida Jones….Score N/A….'

"Congratulations," a male voice said from behind.

She knew exactly who it was, and in response she turned around and hugged him tightly around the stomach.  "Can you believe it, Squall?  I'm an A Rank SeeD!"

The Commander chuckled, "I told you that you could do it."

She let go of him and looked back at the results.  At the bottom it said, 'If you passed, see the Headmaster for your new rooming assignment and a mission schedule,' in bold letters.

"I've gotta go talk to Cid!" she exclaimed.

"Whoa there," Rinoa had walked up behind them both.  "You better eat your lunch first.  Don't want Kadowaki all up on your case again."

"Oh, yeah," Selphie blushed slightly and walked back to the table.

Squall and Zell traded astonished glances, and then Squall shrugged and followed them to the table that they had been sitting at.  "Are you going to eat?" Selphie asked as she munched on her food.

With a sigh, Squall shook his head and ran a gloved hand through his brown hair.  "No, I'll be fine."

"Man, I just moved into one room, and I'm going to have to move into a new one," Selphie complained.

"We'll help!" two voices said at once.

Sae and Arisu came over to join them, beaming.  "We saw that you passed!" Sae yelled giving her a thumbs up.

"Yeah!  Way to go, Selphie!" Arisu laughed, doing the same.

"We don't have much more room over here…" Quistis said slowly.  "Besides, you two have a mission anyway, don't you?"

The two girls shrugged and dragged two more chairs over from different tables.  Upon sitting down, Arisu reached across the table and quickly snatched one of Zell's fries while he wasn't looking.

"What's everyone's plans for the day?" Rinoa asked, looking around at everyone.

"I have to grade tests, whoopee…" Quistis replied sarcastically, taking a drink of her water.

"Renee and Seifer went into Balamb today," Sae giggled.

"Yeah, we'll probably go and bug them eventually."

"It sounds like I get to move my stuff into my new room," Selphie smiled meekly.

"I need to go shopping for Angelo," Rinoa sighed.  "She'll need food, and I suppose I'll have to buy something to put the puppies in…"

"Puppies?" Zell exclaimed.

"Yes…" Selphie laughed, "It sounds like Rocks and Angie eloped while everyone else was partying."

"Is that so?" Squall asked, suddenly amused.

"You know what we should do, Squall?" Zell said, with a huge grin on his face.  "We need to build them a love pad!"

"A what?"

"A doghouse!  Big enough for the entire family!"

"Where would we put it?"

"The Training Center of course!  In the recreation room!"

"I don't think Cid wants dogs doing their business in the recreation room.  That's the main reason that there aren't any monsters in there."

"Rinoa's a good dog trainer, she could teach them to go into the main part of the T.C. to relieve themselves."

"Oh, well isn't that nice, Zell?" Quistis said with a stern look.  The other girls joined in.

"Whaaaat?  I thought it was a good idea!"

"Oh, sure it's a great idea!  I mean, who wouldn't want to be eaten by the T-Rexaur while taking dump!?" Selphie yelled.  "These are my grandchildren we're talking about!"

"I'm with Selph and Qusitis on this!  Are you trying to get my grandbabies killed?"

Zell waved his arms around wildly.  "No!  No!"

Selphie grinned and quickly finished off her meal.  "I know, I'm just giving you a hard time," she laughed, wiping her hands on a napkin and standing up.  "I'll see you all later!  I need to go see Cid!"

Squall followed her out of the cafeteria, and just as the two got to the door Selphie heard Rinoa yell, "I don't care!  She's _pregnant!_  She doesn't need to be doing _that!_"

The chestnut-haired girl giggled and bounded down the hall, seemingly walking on clouds.  "Well, you're sure excited," the Commander sighed and shoved his hands further into the pockets of his black leather pants.

"Excited?  I'm ecstatic!  Never in a million years did I think I would be able to pass that exam!"

"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

The small SeeD threw her head back and laughed.  "It was a trick question!  If I hadn't promised Quisty that I would do everything in my power to pass, I probably would have ducked out too."

Squall's eyebrows formed an inquisitive tic, and his lips curled up at one side.  "Somehow I think you wouldn't have.  You're no coward."

"I'm no lion either."

The Commander snorted through his nose, "I don't know why people compare me to a lion."

"Well, it _could _be your last name...  And it's either bravery or temporary insanity when you rush into some of the situations you've been in.  Though, I have to say, jumping off of the carousel clock and hijacking a car…that's a stunt not many people manage to pull off in their lifetime," Selphie laughed, nudging him with her elbow.

"Are you mocking me?" he asked, grinning.

"Me?  No!  Never."

He reached over and messed her hair up. 

"Why does everyone like doing that to me?" she whined, pulling away from him.  "You're mean."

"I'll make it up to you."

For a second, Selphie was confused, and it showed in her expression.  Finally, Squall chuckled again and said, "I'll help you move into your new dorm."

Selphie beamed and jumped into the air.  "So you'll carry all the heavy stuff!?"

"Yeah."

"And all the hard to reach stuff?  You'll help me get them down?"

"Yeah."

She jumped a second time, this time getting more height.  "Hah!  Yes, you will pay for messing my hair up!" and she took off down the hallway.

After speaking with Cid, Selphie and Squall walked out of the office and to Selphie's old dorm.  Selphie clutched a manila folder two inches thick with information to her chest.  "What all is in this thing?" she complained.

"Important information," Squall stated.

"That's just great.  They trust me with important information?" she groaned, digging through her jean pocket for her keys.  When she unlocked the door, she threw the folder down on her bed and moved to her closet.  Rocks stood up from his spot in the corner and walked over to Squall, wagging his tail.  The Commander glanced down and rubbed the top of the dog's head.

"They trust everyone with it, Selph."

"They should know better than to trust _everyone_."

"You're an A-Rank SeeD, they're pretty sure your responsible enough to look at it and make sure no one else does."

Selphie turned around, pointed a single finger at Squall, decided she was at a loss for words, then went back to her closet.  One by one, she threw random articles of clothing behind her.  Rocks made it a game of dodging flying objects until he found an old toy that had been previously MIA; he carried it off to his corner.  "I'm going to need some boxes to put all this stuff in."

"You've got boxes in here somewhere, don't you?"

"You overestimate me, Squall," she laughed.

"You don't have any?"

"Nope."

"You know," someone said from the doorway.  Both spun around at amazing speed to see Quistis standing there, toting several boxes, "You could always ask me, but no, that would ruin your fun."  The blond instructor winked at the two and threw the boxes on the ground.

"Wow, Quisty!  I don't know what to say!"

"Well, for starters, thank you would be nice," she smiled.  "So, do you intend on just shoving your clothes into the boxes, or would you rather fold them up so that they don't wrinkle?"

Selphie blushed and didn't say anything.

Quistis smiled even bigger, "I'll fold your clothes, you put them in the boxes and tape them up.  Deal?"

"Sure thing!"

Squall, having not said anything for a while, bent down next to Selphie and scooped her keys up.  "I'll start moving the big things into your new dorm," he offered.

"Oh, okay.  Let me know if you need any help!" Selphie laughed, "Though I'm pretty sure my help wouldn't benefit you very much."

Squall nodded, then he walked over to her television and with a grunt lifted it off of its perch and walked out the door. 

As Quistis folded one of Selphie's shirts she sighed, "I won't be able to help for too long.  I have to supervise a few Junior Classmens' training tonight in the Training Center.  I have…" she paused to glance down at her watch, "Fifteen minutes before I have to be there."

"Wow, Quisty.  You're quite the busy bee."

"Oh, you'll realize the joy of it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Selphie looked up.

"Yeah, didn't you read what Cid gave you?"

"Hello, Quisty.  You know me.  That's a huge packet of papers.  I probably won't read them for a while."

"Suit yourself.  I would though, before tomorrow."

Quistis folded the last piece of clothing that was lying on the floor and handed it to Selphie for her to place in the box.  Now that one of the boxes was full, she shut the flaps and taped it up.  On the side she wrote 'Clothes' in permanent marker.

By the time Quistis had to leave, the two had managed to box up all of Selphie's clothes, and were moving on to her trinkets decorating her desk.  Squall, on the other hand, had carried Selphie's television, stereo, speakers, and table into her new room.  "Good luck with the rest of your moving!" Quistis called, as she left.  "I'll probably help you unpack everything later!"  Selphie waved her goodbye, then went back to her desk.

Squall came back into the room, wiping the sweat from his brow.  He had long since removed his shirt to help him cool off.  "Where'd Quistis go?" he asked, sitting on the floor to take a small break.

"She had to go supervise some training," Selphie sighed, wrapping a small jewelry box in newspaper and placing it in the box she was currently trying to fill up.

"Well," Squall said slowly, "The desk is next."

"You're going to move it by yourself?" she asked surprised.

"It's not that big."

Selphie's eyes were wide in disbelief.  "No way, you need at least two people to move this sucker!"

Grunting, Squall stood back up, "Well then, if you're so worried about me, you can help me carry it."

"Um…Selphie?" a small voice said from behind.  Momentarily, Selphie looked everywhere until she saw some eyes and the top of a nose peering around her doorframe.  "You aren't leaving, are you?"

"Oh, Brian!" she gasped, "You surprised me.  No, I'm not leaving.  Just moving to a different room."

"Oh…okay."  He looked uncomfortable for a few seconds, then he slowly walked into the room and stood beside Squall.  "I wanna help."

Squall looked at Selphie, then back down at the boy.  "You can help me with the desk, Selphie won't let me carry it myself."

"Squall!  He's too little!" she exclaimed.

"It'll be fine," Squall reassured.  Selphie glared at him for a few seconds.  Finally, she removed all of the drawers from the desk and watched as Squall approached it. 

"Okay, Brian, you pick up that side, and I'll get this side."  Squall picked up his side of the desk quite easily, but needless to say, Brian was struggling.  Nonchalantly, Squall moved his grip closer to the center of the piece of furniture so that most of the desk's weight was on him.

"Be careful, you two!" Selphie yelled at them as they struggled out the door.  "And Squall, make sure you don't crush him when you set the desk down!!"  She watched them until they disappeared down the hall, then she reluctantly went back to packing.  Rocks nuzzled up against her leg, and she reached down with her spare head and rubbed his ears.  "I know baby, but don't worry too much about them," she cooed.

About ten minutes later, just as she was taping up the box with all of her stuffed animals in it, Squall and Brian walked through the door.  Now, not only was Squall shirtless, but apparently Brian had removed his as well, and the two bare-chested guys walked in and sat back down on the floor, Brian imitating the way Squall sat.

"Well, look at you two!" she laughed with glee.  "I see your back from carrying that awfully heavy desk.  High five, little dude!" she held her hand up, and bashfully, Brian hit it.

"So what's next on the agenda?" Squall asked.

Selphie looked around her room and saw that she had succeeded in putting almost everything in boxes except for her bedspread.  "I guess we start taking the boxes to my new room," she said, "As soon as I pack up my sheets and everything."

"I'll give you a hand," Squall said.

"Me too!" Brian exclaimed. 

The three worked to fold up her bed coverings, and once this was accomplished, they began to transfer boxes into her new dorm.  Brian was constantly like a shadow of Squall.  Always imitating various things he would do, the way he held himself.  Even some of the things he said, Brian quickly picked up on. 

As soon as her old dorm was emptied out and her new dorm was filled with boxes, all three of them took a break.  Squall had plugged in the television for Brian, who was sitting on the floor watching cartoons between Squall and Rocks.

"You two worked so hard today!" Selphie laughed from her new miniature kitchen.  "Who's up for lemonade?"

Without really waiting for a reply, she poured three cups and brought them into the main room, making sure not to trip over any boxes.  She sat down on the other side of Squall and handed the boys each a cup.  "These are my thanks for helping me move in.  Sorry, I don't have any snacks."

"S'okay," Brian said quietly, taking a drink of his lemonade.

"Thanks, Selph," Squall responded to the generous offering.

She smiled and gave a small peace sign in response.

The three sat in silence and watched an old rerun of 'The Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner Hour'.  At the moment, Wiley Coyote was getting ready to drop a gigantic anvil on the Roadrunner's head when a rocket he had activated earlier came from behind and hit him.  With glee, Brian laughed and accidentally sloshed his lemonade on the floor.

"I'm sorry!" he immediately apologized. 

"It's okay!" Selphie laughed, jumping up to get something to wipe it up with.  "Don't worry about it.  Hard wood floor, no harm done."

By the time Selphie got back to where the lemonade had spilled, she saw that Rocks had beaten her there and was already lapping the beverage up off the floor.  "Does that taste good, pup?" she asked, patting the dog on the head.

It wasn't ten minutes later that the same thing happened again, only this time, the lemonade landed not on the floor, but on Squall.  His mouth was agape in shock for a few moments from the coldness of the liquid.  Selphie gasped and it took almost everything she had not to laugh.  She reached to her side to pick up the towel she had gotten from the kitchen and her fingers wrapped around a cloth.  She picked it up and started to wipe the sticky drink from Squall when she noticed…

"Whoops!" she looked at what she suspected to be the towel and blushed.  "Um…looks like I picked up the wrong thing…" Sure enough, she had been cleaning the lemonade off of him with his shirt, which had been sitting next to her. 

Still chuckling, she shrugged and began to dry his hair with it.  "Oh well, you can still wear it…right?"

"I'm sorry, Squall!" Brian exclaimed.

"It's okay, kid."

"No harm done here either!" Selphie laughed, "Now instead of smelling like sweat, he smells like lemons!"

When she finished drying his hair, she looked at the shirt.  It was splattered with yellow liquid and wet.  Once again, she began giggling and she gave it to him, "If you don't want to wear it, I'm sure I can let you borrow one of mine…"

"No, that's okay…"

"But you shouldn't walk back to your dorm in only your jeans!  There're enough rumors already!"

"I don't suppose you own any plain white shirts, do you?"

"No way!  White is boring…but I have a few tees that you might fit into."

She walked over to one of the boxes that was labeled 'clothes' and started to rummage through it.  All of the shirts that she pulled out, Squall noticed, had some disgustingly cute character on it, from Carebears to Happy Bunnies.  The last one she found, however, was much different than the vast majority of her clothing.

"What do you have a KISS tee shirt for?" he laughed when he looked at the black article of clothing.

"Well, when Irvine and I were dating, he got tickets to one of their concerts and we were in the standing room.  They started throwing shirts into the audience, and that one hit me on the head, then I was tackled by several people who were trying to grab it from me…"

"Sounds like you had fun."

"Fun?  Are you kidding?  I have never been so close to death in my life!"

Squall smiled.  "You're an A-Rank SeeD, and the closest you've come to death is at a KISS concert?"

"You have _no _idea.  I got trapped in a moshpit, where everyone was much bigger than me.  I could've died from being smooshed, stomped, or suffocation.  When I finally got out of the moshpit, I was hit in the head with a crowd surfer!"

"I've never seen you wear this shirt before," Squall said, studying the black tee shirt.

"Well, it brings back painful memories.  And I mean _painful_," she winced and pointed to her head, as if indicating she walked out of the concert with some sort of serious head injury.  "But I have worn it a few times…as a nightshirt…  It's way too big for me."  She paused for a moment, then out of nowhere said, "KISS…I thought they'd be a romantic band.  Never did I imagine they were a bunch of men wearing racy clothing and wearing more makeup than the average drag queen."

Squall almost spit out the new drink of lemonade he had just taken in.  "You'd never heard of KISS?" 

She laughed and shook her head.  "Not at the time.  But now I'm very well educated in rock bands!" she held up a finger and did a little pose as if to emphasize her statement. 

Still trying not to choke, he put the shirt on and realized that it fit him really well.  "We'll call it a trade, whaddaya say?  Since you let me keep some of your clothes and all…and since I never wear that shirt anyway."

"Sounds good to me."

He turned around and looked at Brian, who was still engrossed in a cartoon, his lemonade cup now empty.  "You ready to go, kiddo?" he asked, checking his watch.  "It's getting pretty late in the day."

Brian turned his attention away from the television.  "Cool shirt!" he beamed.  For a few seconds he fumbled around for his own shirt, and then pulled it over his head.  "Yeah, I'm ready," he finally said.  He got up and turned the television off.

"Bye, Selphie!" he said softly as he slipped into his shoes.

"See ya!  And thanks again for all your help!"

Selphie followed Squall to the door; Brian was waiting out in the hall.  Squall turned around and looked at her, his mouth opened as if he were getting ready to say something, but then it closed suddenly.  Then came the awkward silence.  Brian looked between the two, confusedly.  Selphie felt herself blush and try to avoid his eye contact, but was finding it difficult.

Still feeling pretty awkward, she decided to say something.  She looked up into his blue-grey eyes and then noticed, much to her amazement and jealousy that his hair had dried and looked just as great as it always did. 

"I can't believe it," she complained.  "It's official, you have perfect hair."

"What?" he asked, confusedly.

"It just automatically dries like that?  Heck, you should see my hair when it dries by itself…"

"I have…"

"Oh yeah…not a pretty sight, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Wait a minute!  I'm going to run a test!" she announced, once again pointing her finger in the air.  "Now…bend down."

"Why?"

"Because you're too tall, that's why!"

Still confused, Squall bent down and Selphie proceeded to rustle his hair around.  When she managed to mess with it enough to satisfy her, she removed her hands and watched it fall back into place.  "You're a freak of nature, Squall!  No one's hair is that perfect, it's not fair!"

Squall shrugged and stood up straight again.  "Sorry?"

"No, don't be sorry.  But, if for some reason in the future, I am to go bald, will you donate your hair to make me a wig?"

"…Sure?"

"Good!"

"Um…Squall?" Brian said from the hallway. 

"Oh, yeah.  See ya, Selph," Squall waved and walked out of her room.  She slunk next to the door and watched them walk down the hall.

As Squall approached the corner of the hallway, Nida popped out in front of him, smirking.  "You should've kissed her."

"Huh?" Squall looked over at the Garden's pilot in shock.

"You should've kissed her," Nida repeated, smiling even wider.  "I don't know about you, but my parents always said," then his voice got an octave higher as he pretended to be his mother, "One day everyone meets someone who's special and when it happens, they need to let them know how they feel, otherwise they might lose them forever," then he gave a goofy grin.  "I'm sorry, that was kind of sappy."

Squall was dumbfounded.  He couldn't even form a response in his head, let alone let the words travel from his brain to his mouth.

"Have you ever told her?" Nida said, serious once more.

Now that his brain started to kick in again, Squall managed a, "Tell her what?"

"That you loooove her," the pilot snickered.

The light over Squall's head flickered off again.

"I guess not…"

"Okay, just one question, Nida," Squall said, motioning him closer.  "What are _you_ doing in the girls dormitories?"

Nida's face turned a bright red and he looked at the floor, then he shook it away and tried to cover it up by saying, "Selphie's moving into a new dorm today, right?  I was going to help her!"

"Uh-huh…" Squall looked down at Brian, then back to Nida.  "Well, we've already taken care of that.  Come on, Brian."

"By the way, nice shirt Squall!" Nida called after him.  It seemed as if the pilot had regained his happy-go-lucky composure.

Selphie was unpacking her clothes when her door burst open.  "I'm baaaack!" Quistis announced in a singsong voice.

"You sure sound excited."

"Oh, I'm so relieved be done with that!" the Instructor sighed, kicking off her boots and shoving them into a corner with her foot.  "Hello, Rocks.  How're you today?" she smiled as she passed by the dog.  Rocks barked in response, his tongue hanging haphazardly out of his mouth. 

"So, Selph, have you read the packet Cid gave you yet?"

"No," she admitted as she transferred a handful of socks into a drawer.

"No?  Selph, honey, I'm so serious when I say you _need _to read that packet!  Where'd you put it?"

"Oh, on the bed…I think."

"You think?"

"Yes, I think!  Jee whiz, Quisty!  Stop repeating me!"

"You need to get more organized, Selphie.  That's about fifty percent of the reason why A Rank SeeDs get bigger dorms."

"Oh, hush up.  You're just jealous because…" she thought for a while and realized that she had nothing that Quistis would be jealous about, "…my dorm looks cooler than yours!"  And with that, she stuck out her tongue in a very childlike manner.

"Yes, that's exactly the reason!  How _ever _did you know?" Quistis laughed.  She sprawled out on the bed and pushed several boxes out of the way until she finally grabbed Selphie's packet.  "Anyway, here it is.  I say you better take a break from unpacking and read it."

"Why?"

"You can finish unpacking when you get back."

"Get back?  From where?"

"You'll see…" Quistis sang as she waved the packet of papers over her head.

"What do you mean?" Selphie asked, reaching up to grab the papers from the Instructor.  Every time she got close, the blond would just raise them out of her reach.  Finally, Selphie jumped up and managed to grab them.

"I'll leave you as you read over everything," Quistis smiled and rolled off of the bed, grabbed her shoes and walked for the door.

Selphie grumbled something incoherent, then sat down on her bed to begin the painstaking task of reading through all the papers. 

Quistis' dorm was just right across the hall from Selphie's new one.  However, it wasn't until after Quistis got into her dorm, shut the door behind her, turned on her television and was getting something to drink, that she heard Selphie's voice cry from all the way from across the hall,  "Appear before the council?  TOMORROW!!?"

**Sinnah:** We're fans of pointless fluff, as if you couldn't tell.  Unfortunately, with Squall, he can't be a very fluffy guy without changing his original attitude, and since we are trying our hardest to keep him in character, it's really hard to write.  o.O

**CheriChicola: **What made you think that chapter eight was the last chapter?  We have a looong way to go before this story ends!  Lol. 

**Raven55:** Let us know when you write your Squalphie!  We'll have to definitely check it out!

**123:** This is the first threat we've received from 'Taming the Lion' reviewers.  Please, no frogs, we beg of you.  

**Draic: **If you were happy about Rinoa coming around last chapter, then we hope you enjoyed this chapter.  o

**Yuffie Kisaragi2:** Up late reading?  I did that with **computergeekz** "Love Beyond Death".  I think that was my first serious FF8 story that I read.  (It's a good story if you want to read it, though it is a Squinoa) 

**A/N: **Well, that concludes chapter nine of "Taming the Lion".We hope that everyone enjoyed it!  Just a fair warning, Anna finally got a job!  Wahoo!  That's the good news, the bad news is that it might cut into her writing time.  Hopefully, it won't too much.  Still, we thought that everyone should know.  o  Oh!  And this Saturday is Anna's sweet sixteen!  Yaaay!  That's about it.  We're still taking Squalphie art if you want to submit it!  Or any other artwork that you want to submit.  (BreeAnne drew a picture of Sae and Arisu that we're going to post eventually.  We have yet to draw other characters such as Renee and Brian.)  All artwork is welcome!  Just email it to us!  Thanks again and be sure to leave us a review!


	10. Chapter 10

Reposted with corrections

Chapter 10

"Now, Ms. Tilmitt, tell me, what do you see?" a man with thick glasses that magnified his eyes inquired.

Selphie stared at the piece of paper with a giant blot of ink in the center. To her, it clearly looked like a blot of ink. No more, no less. But he wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. She'd already tried that. He had merely responded with, "Look beyond the blot."

She continued to stare at it, and when she _still _couldn't make anything out, she sighed and said, "…A bunny?"

The man nodded and laid the paper down on his stained mahogany desk, then held up a new inkblot. "And this?"

Her brow creased with concentration. She squinted at the picture, and even tried crossing her eyes to make out any kind of shape. Still, it remained just a black splatter across a white sheet of poster board. "A flower…"

With a final nod, the man set down the last inkblot and crossed his hands over the top of his heavily polished desk. "Very well; now we're going to try another test."

"Another one?" she whined.

The council was nothing like she had expected. Then again, she hadn't seen anyone except for this man. She heard Quistis talk about meetings with the council time and time again. Typically, it consisted of all of the Rank A SeeDs and Headmasters of each of the designated Gardens. Together they would discuss current world events and crises, and they made the final decision of whether or not SeeD would act. Only during very chaotic or very dangerous situations would the council act on its own. Everyone had a specialized job they were expected to do, and Selphie had yet to be appointed one. To do so, she had to take several aptitude tests. They wanted her to be matched up with something that she would be good at.

"I'm going to say something, and you just say the first word that comes to mind."

"Oh, well that's simple enough," she smiled. She should be good at this.

"Mission?"

"Trains!" she exclaimed. That was always her favorite part of leaving on missions, was riding the train. The doctor wrote something down on his pamphlet.

"Peace?"

"Happiness!"

"Nerve?"

"Pain," she grimaced.

"Heresy?"

She chuckled uneasily, "Sorceress."

"Serious?"

"Squall."

The doctor looked up at her momentarily, and when she realized what she said she blushed a bright red. He chuckled to himself and wrote something down on the pamphlet.

"Tedious?"

"War," she sighed.

"Negotiation?"

"Fisherman's Horizon!"

Once again, the doctor looked up at her, seemingly intrigued. "Well, you see, last year when we went to Fisherman's Horizon, the Galbadian army was taking over the city and the mayor was certain that he could talk them into leaving."

"Did it work?" the doctor chuckled.

"No."

The man cleared his throat and pushed the glasses further onto his nose. "Home?"

"Garden."

"Oppression?"

"Unfair," she said quietly.

"Trouble?"

"Help."

"Telephone?"

"Pizza."

Now the doctor placed his pad of papers down. Selphie smiled weakly. "Sorry, I guess I'm getting sort of hungry." After all, he had been running tests on her all morning.

"That's understandable," the doctor smiled, taking his glasses off and pocketing them in his white lab coat. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that you're done here."

"Really? No more tests!?"

"No more tests."

"Booyaka!" she exclaimed. In one motion, she jumped out of her chair, punched the thin air and stopped herself short of doing a victory dance.

"Yes. You'll need to stop by the office again before the meeting with the council. Your test results will be in, and your Rank A job will be assigned to you."

"Okay."

She beamed and shook the doctor's hand. He opened the door for her and as she was walking out, a woman at the front desk called to her. "Excuse me, miss. Are you Ms. Selphie Tilmitt?"

"Yes, I am."

"I have a message here for you from a Squall Leonhart." The secretary looked at a sticky note that she had written on. "He went to go rent a car and he'll pick you up at noon."

Selphie nodded and checked her watch. It was a quarter until noon, so she had about fifteen minutes to kill. With nothing better to do, she sat down in one of the squishy waiting room chairs and picked up an old Timber Maniacs magazine, automatically scanning through it to see if Laguna had written any articles. When she didn't see anything that interested her, she discarded it and picked up some other reading material.

A steady flow of patients came in through the entrance and would always shoot her some of the strangest looks. She was, after all, dressed in her SeeD uniform, sitting in a waiting room, reading old issues of Vogue magazine.

As she was reading some article about how 'yellow is _not _the new pink', a loud revving sound came from the street. Two children sitting in the seat next to her turned around and looked out the window. "Wooow…" the little girl said, her mouth agape.

"That's so cool!!"

"Not a bad looking guy either…" an elderly woman chuckled over her magazine.

Out of curiosity, Selphie turned around as well to see Squall sitting on a motorcycle, removing his helmet and shaking his dark hair back to normal. She laughed aloud and ran out to him. "A car, huh?"

"Well, I tried. The only ones they had were family sized and expensive to rent."

"Okay, one question!" Selphie held up a finger and started to laugh again. "How's Quistis going to fit? Is she going to sit on the handlebars?"

"She's not going to be here until the meeting tonight. Maybe they'll have some cars in by that point."

"Or she'll have to rent her own motorcycle," Selphie laughed again.

"Here, I picked out one I thought you'd like," Squall said. Selphie looked confused until he reached into one of the saddlebags and pulled out a bright pink helmet.

"Wahoo! That's awesome!" she exclaimed. As she was clasping the helmet to her head, a thought hit her. "Squall, have you ever driven a motorcycle before?"

"There's a first time for everything, right?"

The color drained from her face and she was sure that her eyes were on the verge of bugging out like in the cartoons, when she saw something in his eyes change. "I have, don't worry."

She hit him on the shoulder, "Don't scare me like that."

"Couldn't help myself."

She finished fastening the helmet and uneasily got on the backseat of the bike.

"Where do you want to go?" Squall yelled over the loud hum of the motor, he himself strapping his helmet back to his head. Before she could answer, he revved the engine up again and stepped on the gas.

She hugged tightly around his waist as he took off down the street. "As long as we're back here before the meeting so I can get my job assignment, I don't care where we go," she yelled back.

"Alright," he yelled, popping a wheelie.

Selphie squealed and tightened her grasp around his waist. "Then I have an idea of where to go."

Deling City was, by all means, not the greatest city for tourists. There was not much to look at there, and being there several times before didn't help increase the splendor of it.

"Wait, Squall!" she shouted, pounding her fist against his back to get his attention. "Can we stop at the inn first?"

He nodded in response and turned down the street to park in front of the Galbadian Hotel. She jumped off the back of the bike and quickly unfastened the helmet, held it under her arm and ran through the automatic glass doors. Squall followed behind her at a much slower pace.

They stopped in front of her room and she ran in as fast as she could, closing the door behind her. In a hurried frenzy, she threw off the abstract SeeD uniform and pulled on her favorite yellow dress instead. Before leaving her room, she reached into her suitcase and pulled out a video camera, then hid it behind her back as she walked out of the room.

"Ready to go?" Squall asked standing away from the wall he was leaning up against.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

When they made it back to the motorcycle, Selphie slipped the camera into one of the saddlebags without Squall noticing, then she proceeded to put on her helmet and situate herself on the back seat once again.

"The meeting starts at five, right?" Squall asked loudly as he started the engine up again. Selphie nodded. "We'll head back around four then."

"Where're we going?"

"You'll see," he shouted, turning onto the highway. The roar of the engine got steadily louder as Squall speeded down the road. Selphie held tightly around Squall's waist as the bike continued to accelerate. Her chestnut colored hair blew wildly as the wind hit her face and stung her eyes. She closed them tight and hid her face behind Squall's back.

"You couldn't get one with a sissy bar, could you?" she yelled over the loud engine.

"Didn't have 'em, otherwise I would've."

She felt the bike heave to the right and start slowing down. She lifted her head and opened her eyes to see them riding down an exit ramp. Now, she realized, that she had no idea where they were anymore. She could only hope that Squall did.

Selphie could no longer see Deling City. As they continued down the road, the highway continuously got smaller and smaller until it disappeared as well. Even the road they were cruising down, Selphie noticed, was getting steadily thinner. Finally, it emptied itself onto a dirt road.

Trees and grass now substituted pavement and concrete. The two passed many park benches and picnic tables as they continued down the road, leaving a brown cloud of dust in their wake. They were probably on the bike for a total of an hour before he pulled off the road and parked in the grass near a small stream.

Selphie jumped off the back of the bike, took off the helmet and smoothed out her hair. Squall did the same, then removed his boots, rolled up his jeans and walked out into the water.

When he set foot in, he stood frigid in his spot.

"Cold?" Selphie laughed.

"I'll say." He slowly continued his progress through the water until he finally sat down on a giant boulder.

Now, beaming with excitement, Selphie pulled out her video camera and turned it on. She held it to her eye and panned it around the area. "This is me, Selphie, with my video journal for the day!" she exclaimed. "This is day one of me officially being a Rank A SeeD! As I wait for some specialists to decide my line of duty, I am in the middle of nowhere with my Commander! Say 'hi' to the camera, Squall!"

Squall boringly looked over to her and her camera, rolled his eyes and said, "…Whatever."

"Typical Squall," she laughed to herself. "Anyway, Quistis is going to show up later. She was doing something back at Garden and she couldn't be here until the meeting tonight. I had to come early because I needed to take lots of aptitude tests for a special job. Squall came with me as my chaperon/chauffer, since he has a license and I do not. More on that subject later." Selphie paused for a moment and thought of what to talk about next. "This," she pointed the camera at the motorcycle, "Is our mode of transportation. Squall claims there weren't any cars left, but I'm sure he just couldn't help himself. Besides, according to the old woman at the doctors office, and I agree, he looks right sexy on this thing."

"What?" he asked from his boulder.

"Nothing!" she said quickly, smiling around the camera. When Squall directed his gaze back to the stream, she smiled slyly then turned the camera around so that it was filming her face. "Shh! We won't ever tell him," she giggled, then continued with her narrative of the day.

"We're staying in the Galbadia Grand Hotel. It's _uber _expensive, but the great part is, Garden is paying for our rooms! And this time around, they're separate, which is pretty cool. But we have to pay for everything else."

She quickly turned off the camera, then bent down to remove her own boots. Still holding on to the camera, she stepped into the water as well. The cold liquid against her bare skin sent shivers up her spine. "Wow! It _is _really cold!"

"What, did you think I lied?"

"No. But I didn't expect it to be _this _bad!" She looked down at her watch and decided to take it off, she didn't want it to be ruined by the water, after all. She threw it on the grass next to her brown boots.

Next, she switched the power back on her camera and walked awkwardly over to where Squall was sitting. "The water here, is very…cold…to say the least…" she was saying.

"Why are you filming? Who's going to watch it?" Squall asked, leaning back onto the rock.

"Well, I don't know. I've come to terms with the fact that my video journals aren't going to win me the Nobel Prize or anything. But fifty years from now when I'm old, ugly and wrinkly, I'll look back on these and remember how life used to be."

Squall thought for a moment and decided he didn't know what to say in response. Instead of saying anything, he searched the water for a good skipping rock, then he casually threw it and watched it skip several times downstream.

"Oooh, lemme try! I've always wanted to try to do this!" she yelled, holding the camera, still on, over her head as she walked awkwardly over to his boulder again. The rocks at the bottom of the stream were slippery from all the algae, and as she was nearing him, she slipped and went toppling forward.

Squall lunged forward to try and catch her, but didn't have to move very far. Her head hit against his chest and his arms wrapped around her in an instinct to break her fall. However, her bare knees scraped against the side of the rock.

She breathed in sharply, "Ouch!"

"You okay?"

She looked down at her knees, now scraped and bleeding, "I'll be fine." Grimacing, she sat in between his legs on the giant rock and hugged her legs to her chest. Then, much like a child might do, she started blowing on her scrapes. When she was satisfied, she carefully lowered her legs and leaned down to pick up a rock to skip. She threw it at the water to see it land with a loud plop. "If only Rocks were here, he'd enjoy this too." Then, remembering that her camera was still on, she held it to her eye and looked through the lens as Squall successfully skipped another rock down the stream. "I left Rocks back at Garden with Nida. Cid wouldn't let me bring him with me. Poor puppy probably misses me."

"He'll be fine," Squall quietly reassured. Selphie turned her head to see him looking down at her, his mouth was not smiling but his eyes were. She returned the smile and went back to filming.

Since she had nothing left to say to the camera she shut it off and set it in her lap. "Hey, Squall, what kind of jobs to they administer to Rank A SeeDs?" she asked, leaning up against him.

"All sorts," he sighed.

"Like?" she prodded. "What's your job?"

"I have two."

"Two?"

He nodded.

"What are they?"

"Combatant and Commander."

"Oh, I should've guessed," she laughed sheepishly. "What about Quistis?"

"…Instructor."

"I knew that!" she proclaimed. "I swear I did."

It was silent for a while except for birds singing somewhere in the trees and the steady flow of water beneath them.

"What kind of a job do you think I'll get?"

"I don't know. These doctors and specialists take a lot into consideration when appointing the jobs. I don't know what they look for exactly," he admitted. "Some of the jobs are…" he thought momentarily and slowly started to list some, "Combatants, negotiators, intelligence experts, spies, instructors, hackers, commanders…" he stopped. "Hyne, there's too many to list off."

"Hm…" Selphie looked ruefully down at the water and picked up a new rock. Again, she tried to skip it only to watch it drop pathetically back into the water. The feeling she had at that moment was too complicated for words. It was a mixture of apprehension and anxiety. While she wanted to know what they assigned her, she dreaded that it might be something extremely dangerous.

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

"You got quiet all of a sudden."

"You of all people, Squall, should be used to silence," she chuckled.

Squall merely shrugged, still leaning back on his arms. She wanted so badly for those strong arms to be around her, but she said nothing. Instead, she pretended to be interested in a crimson butterfly that landed on her thigh. She cupped her hands around the small insect and lifted it up to her eye level. Squall even leaned over her to look at it as well.

The butterfly slowly lifted and lowered its wings, then flew off in a flash of red wings.

"Well," Selphie started slowly. "Today I have learned that I am incompetent ink blot determiner, and an awful rock skipper."

"It's because you're doing it wrong."

"The ink blots or skipping rocks?"

"I can't help you with the ink blots, but I can teach you to skip rocks."

"Really? Do it then!"

"First of all," he said, sitting straight up, "when you throw the rock, don't just chuck it directly at the water. Throw it across the surface." His tip was followed by a very confused look from Selphie. "I'll show you." After he found another flat rock, he demonstrated what he meant.

"Oh. I think I get it now." Squall handed her a rock and she threw it the way he did and it skipped just once on the water. "Wahoo! I did it!"

"You're getting the hang of it."

"It's because I'm so awesome," she whispered with a smirk.

She tried a couple more times, but the most she ever got the rock to skip was twice. By the time she finally gave up, Squall had retreated to the grass again and was laying with his hands under his head, staring up at the sky.

Tucking her camera under her arm, Selphie stumbled out of the stream as well. When her feet hit dry land, she shook the water from them and sat in the grass. Her skin felt cold to the touch, and she couldn't put her boots back on while her feet were still wet. While waiting to dry off, she looked at the sky as well.

It was such a nice day. Big puffy clouds were suspended in the blue oblivion that was the heavens. After studying one cloud in particular for a while, she nudged Squall in the side and said, "Do you know what that one looks like?"

He grunted for a response.

"A turtle," she smiled. She then turned her head to the side as if to come up with something else, "…with wings."

Squall sat up and looked at her bewilderedly, "Turtles don't have wings."

"It's…an…angel turtle…" she said finally, still squinting skyward.

"Turtles can be angels?"

"If they're very good turtles throughout their life and never bite anyone," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Whatever," he muttered, lying back down.

"Well, Mr. Cloud-Interpreter, what do you think it looks like?"

"A cloud."

"Aww!" she slumped down on the ground beside him and propped herself up on her elbows. "Come on! You're no fun! You can do better than that!"

He was silent as he looked at the cloud, watching it move and slowly morph into new things. "It's a…" he squinted momentarily, "…decapitated Wendel…"

"That's…nice…" she said slowly. She turned her head to see for herself and found that it kind of did resemble a headless Wendel. "You're a sick and disgusting person, Commander Leonhart," she laughed.

"I try," he mumbled, lying back down. She knew that he had to be tired, she was too. The time change from Balamb to Deling City had a difference of five hours. They had to leave at what was Balamb's night time to arrive in Galbadia in the early morning. Neither had gotten much sleep on the train. Some of the gears needed oil and the mechanical noises were overwhelming.

Selphie's nerves were shot, however, and even though she really wanted to sleep, she knew she would probably be unable. As Squall dozed peacefully beside her she looked back at the sky for a while. She noticed that in the distance the clouds were getting darker and thicker. Picking up her camera, she filmed it and said, "Selphie's weather prediction: Rain showers tonight with a slight chance of misfortune at the meeting." Heaving a great sigh, she put it back down and looked around.

Next, she busied herself with making necklaces and tiaras out of clover that was growing in a patch nearby. When she grew bored of that, she began sticking flowers in Squall's hair. While he was asleep, he wouldn't mind.

It just as she was weaving a dandelion into his brown hair, that a red sports car pulled off the side of the road, causing dirt and gravel to fly everywhere. Squall shot up from his slumber, flowers falling out of his hair and onto his shoulders. Selphie quickly discarded the last of the flowers, hoping he didn't realize they had been there.

"Who the hell-?" Squall was saying to himself. Just as he was standing up, the shiny red door flew open and out stepped a very peeved looking Quistis, pulling off her sunglasses and flipping her long blond hair to the side.

"I thought I'd find you two here. What were you doing?"

"Making bracelets…" Selphie cooed, "Do you want one?"

"Oh, is that what they call it nowadays?" Quistis smirked.

Squall rolled his eyes and made to sit back down when Quistis grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back up. "What are you doing?"

"Catching up on sleep," he answered.

"Really? Because…" she paused to push up her sleeve and check her watch, "we have approximately seventy five minutes to get to the meeting."

"What?!" Squall and Selphie both shouted simultaneously.

"It takes an hour to get back into town!" Selphie shrieked. "And I need my uniform! And my job assignment!"

"Sounds like we're going to be late," Squall grumbled, reaching down to pull on his shoes again.

Selphie looked at him in awe, "Apparently you've never driven with Quistis."

With a devious smile, the Instructor replaced her sunglasses and said, "Let's get a move on, folks."

After Squall and Selphie got situated, they jumped back on the bike and followed Quistis back into town. The woman sure could drive like a maniac when forced to. Still, even after all the laws she managed to break while driving, by the time they got into Deling City, they only had a little over twenty minutes to get everything accomplished.

Squall dropped Selphie off at the clinic she had spent her entire morning at. "I'm going back to the hotel to get the uniforms, so I'll need your key!" Squall shouted over the motor as Selphie got off. "I think we'll all be taking Quistis' rental into the meeting. So we'll pick you up in a bit!"

Selphie nodded and dug through her purse to give Squall the keys to her hotel room. Squall pocketed it, then with a rev of his engine, he was gone again. She ran into the clinic and up to the front desk.

"I need the results of my tests earlier this morning," she told the receptionist.

"Name, please," the woman said sweetly.

"Selphie Tilmitt."

The woman thumbed through a stack of manila folders before pulling out one in particular near the bottom of the pile. "Here you go. The bill will be sent directly to the Headmaster of which Garden?"

"Balamb," Selphie said breathlessly. She had already recklessly thrown open the folder and was searching for the document that would tell her what job she was assigned. Just as she was walking to the door, she found what she was looking for. What she saw astonished her.

She didn't even want to think of it.

In scrawling handwriting on her test sheet, the doctor had written many comments such as, "Good social skills. Excellent people skills." In big bold typed letters at the bottom of the sheet, she read 'NEGOTIATOR'.

_Negotiator? Of all the jobs they could give me, I get **negotiator?**_

In a daze, she continued to look through the papers in the folder. "Training required:" one sheet in particular said, "1) Self defense training 2) Counseling training…"

One thing that really caught her attention was the bolded letters on one of her information sheets that said, "WHEN AT WORK, NEGOTIATORS ARE TO BE UNARMED."

Her mind must've been all the way in Esthar, because at that moment she didn't realize that Squall and Quistis were honking at her in Quistis' rental car. She knew that her mouth must've been hanging wide open as she walked to the car, still dazed and slowly got in. As soon as she shut her door, Quistis sped down the street.

She felt fabric hit her in the face, and some distant voice say 'Hurry up and change.' Then, another voice accompanied it, saying, 'I brought your packet from Cid too.'

She shook all the thoughts from her head.

"Did you hear me?" Quistis half screamed, "You need to change! Now!"

At that moment, the world that had previously seemed like a jigsaw puzzle to the younger SeeD was slowly starting to come together, and things were starting to make some sense. Squall and Quistis were both sitting in the front, looking straight ahead. Quistis seemed tense and determined, and as always, Squall remained unreadable.

As quickly as she could, Selphie changed into her SeeD uniform. It was rather difficult to do in the back of a moving vehicle. As she adjusted her skirt, she asked, "Hey, you guys, I have a question. On a scale of one to ten, how dangerous of a job would negotiator be? Ten being the wor-" But before she could finish her statement, Quistis threw on the brakes, causing Selphie to go flying into the back of Squall's seat.

Several cars honked and swerved around the red sports car, stopped firmly in the middle of the road. "Negotiator?!"

Selphie turned a bright red. Squall also turned in his seat to look at her. "Hey, no peeking!" she squealed, turning his head forward again.

"Hey! Lady! What the hell do you think you're doin'!?" some man hollered through his open window at Quistis. The blond turned around, and flipped him off, then without warning stepped on the gas again, this time throwing Selphie back against the back seat.

"Hyne, Quistis! You drive like a psycho!" Selphie screeched.

Quistis however, wasn't paying much attention. She was shaking her head and muttering to herself. The mantra she was repeating sounded a lot like, "What the hell is wrong with them?" Sometimes, she would add in more profanities; sometimes, she'd stop herself mid-sentence and start over again.

"I knew it; it's bad. It's really dangerous, isn't it?"

Quistis continued mumbling to herself, and Squall remained silent. He appeared to be chewing on his lip and rubbing his temple.

Now completely finished changing, Selphie looked out the window at the buildings blurring past them. She was only brought out of this by Quistis hitting the steering wheel several times with her closed fist, every once in a while, accidentally hitting the horn.

Now there was no doubt in Selphie's mind. She probably had one of the most dangerous jobs they could have offered. The car was eerily silent the rest of the trip to the building the meeting would be held in. Finally, the tires screeched to a halt in front of a giant building, and everyone stepped out, still not talking.

Briskly, they walked inside. After sneaking a look at Quistis' watch, Selphie saw that they were indeed late. Ten minutes late, to be exact. And from the looks of it, no one was happy about it. In the back, she could see Cid stop his pacing, shake his head, and sit back down. Quietly, the three slunk over to some empty seats and sat down.

Martine was standing at a podium, glaring them down as they seated themselves. "As most of you know," his venomous voice drawled, "We are here to greet a new member of the council. Ms. Tilmitt, how nice of you to show up. Maybe, you could start by telling everyone why you and your friends from Balamb are late?"

Several SeeDs snickered and there was a faint chorus of "Ooohs." Martine waved his hand over the small audience, and the taunting stopped.

Selphie looked nervously at Quistis, who also seemed to have turned a pale shade of white. Heart pounding much faster than what was considered normal, Selphie stood up, clicked her heels together and saluted him. "Sir!" she shouted, "I am sorry sir, for appearing tardy to my first meeting. I was careless and lost track of time. I promise it will not happen again!"

Martine studied her from over his beak-like nose, his beady eyes boring holes into her skin. Still, she kept herself at salute, knowing full well not to move until he told her to. "At ease," he said, still keeping his eyes on her. She relaxed her posture, but remained standing. His eyes still fixed on her, he yelled, "This is Ms. Selphie Tilmitt of Balamb Garden. She passed her A Rank test yesterday, and has been appointed as the council's newest negotiator."

At the mention of this, everyone mumbled amongst themselves. She couldn't catch snippets of what they were saying because she was trying with all her might not to listen. Already she was scared out of her mind about what she may have to face up to in the near future.

Martine waited for it to quiet down. "You may sit."

She was never so glad to do so.

She felt herself slink back into her chair. All she really wanted to do was curl into a ball and disappear. Several SeeDs had turned from where they sat to look at her with a sense of dignity, or maybe even pity. She couldn't tell, and she tried her best to not think too much into it. Quistis nudged her in the side and leaned in to whisper, "You handled that really well." That had made her feel a little better.

Martine started to say something else, but a younger man stepped up behind him and tapped his shoulder. "I'll take over from here," he said, just loud enough for Selphie to hear him.

The Galbadian Headmaster gave Selphie one last look of disgust then sat down. "This meeting was not only called to welcome our newest member," the young man was saying. "But there has been some trouble in a town near Trabia…"

Selphie leaned over in her chair and whispered, "Who's that?"

"That's the Esthar Garden Headmaster."

"He's young! He can't be much older than us!" she exclaimed quietly.

"He was the Commander of Galbadia Garden," Squall said boringly.

"Yeah," Quistis whispered, "They originally asked Squall but he didn't take them up on the offer."

"I didn't want to be any closer to my father than need be."

"Now, if everyone would please turn to the second packet, you can see the opposing side's argument…" The three stopped their quiet conversation and looked back at the man at the podium. Quistis frantically flipped to the designated page and immediately began to follow along, so Selphie decided to do the same.

After the meeting, Selphie was very happy to find herself sprawled out on her comfy bed at the hotel, hugging an overstuffed pillow to her chest, and merrily flipping through the channels. That had been the longest meeting she had _ever _experienced in her lifetime, and Quistis' words of, "Wow, that wasn't nearly as long as last time," haunted her.

Ten o'clock at night. A five-hour meeting, and it wasn't 'nearly as long as last time'? It was insanity, she thought.

Suddenly, an annoying ringing interrupted her thoughts. She leaned over and picked up the cell phone sitting on the bedside table, and immediately recognized the phone number.

"Hi, Nida!" she exclaimed, muting the television.

"I was just calling to ask about your first day, and a certain someone wanted to say hi to you as well," he laughed, and she heard a bark come from somewhere in his room.

"Oh, tell Rocks I said hi. Has he been a good puppy?"

"I would hardly call him a puppy, but he's been fine. So, come on, tell me, how'd it go today?"

"Oh, it was awful…" she muttered, rolling onto her stomach.

"Awful? Aren't you being a little modest?" he laughed again.

"Well, let's see….I had to take a series of tests this morning, I was assigned a very dangerous job, I have to go to training for the next few weeks, I scraped my knee on a rock, AND I was late to my first meeting."

"…Wow…it sounds like you _did _have a pretty rough day."

She blew the bangs out of her face, and nodded, though she knew he couldn't see.

"So, training, huh? What kind of training?"

Grunting, she pulled herself up and reached for the packet of papers and flipped through them until she had found what she wanted. "Self defense and counseling training," she announced, throwing the packet back down against the comforter.

"Self defense? Counseling? Exactly what job did you get?"

"Negotiator," she half whined.

"Aw, come on, that's not…_that_ bad…" he said, trying to make her feel better, and failing miserably. "There's worse…I mean you could be…a suicide bomber or something…"

"Yes, Nida….because they hand out those types of jobs."

"You never know," he chuckled. "Well, who's your trainer? Did they tell you?"

She glanced back down at the papers now littering the bed. "His name is Seth Sevacas…well, the self defense guy at least."

"Sevacas? Hmm, he sounds familiar…" Nida paused a moment. "Oh yeah! He was Zell's martial arts trainer! I've heard some interesting stories about him."

"What kind of…. 'interesting stories'?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. They're just rumors I'm sure. But even so, Zell's been working down at his studio for training to take over once Seth retires."

"Good, at least there'll be a familiar face."

"Yeah, see? No harm done."

"Well, anything interesting happening at Garden? Anything I need to know about?"

"Oh, yes! That's the other reason why I called you! I had to forewarn you, Cid pulled a Parent Night on us, and as always, my parents want to adopt you. They were wondering if you wanted them to double as your parents too again."

"No, that's fine," she sighed. "I feel bad asking them to do that every year. Quisty and I will probably go do something else together."

"It's not like they mind."

"I know, but still. You know what they used to let us do back at Trabia Garden? Those without parents asked the older SeeDs to go around and see their progress. It was a cool system. There was this one girl who was just like an older sister to me."

Nida was silent for a bit, but then he finally said, "You know, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'll try to get Cid to reinstate that here at Balamb."

"Yeah, it was a much better feeling than knowing you're one of the few students that aren't going to have a parent coming."

"Very interesting."

"Anything else worthy of mentioning?" she asked, checking the time. "I better get off soon, it's late and I'm tired."

"Oh, yeah. Rinoa took the SeeD written entrance exam."

"Really? How'd she do?"

"Psh, she passed with flying colors. She's been trying to talk Cid into letting her enter SeeD without taking the field exam since she traveled around with you guys during the whole time compression scare."

"Is he going to let her?"

"Maybe. But I bet he'll come up with a pre-requisite for her to do to make up for it."

"I see, well, that's really cool. But I'm going to go now. I'll see ya tomorrow when we come back."

"Alright. Rocks says goodbye too."

Smiling, she clicked her phone off and promptly turned the volume back up on the television, though when she decided that there was still nothing on that interested her, she resorted to sitting outside.

It was raining, a slow steady drizzle, and now that it was nighttime, Deling City had turned into a beautiful luminescent city. The streets were lit up with lamps and everywhere shops were aglow, letting each passerby know that it was there.

It was a bit chilly outside for the skinny, pajama clad girl, and once she saw lightning in the distance, she knew that she had had enough. She briskly walked inside and got under the warm comforter only to notice that on the bottom right hand side of the television screen was a small map with several colors splotched on it. Above it in bold black letters it said 'Severe Thunder Storm Warning'.

"Oh no," she breathed, flipping to the weather channel.

A man in a suit was pointing at a huge map of Galbadia. "Several thunderstorms are moving in the direction of Deling City and surrounding areas. Flash flood warnings have been issued, as well as a tornado watch for residents of Deling City."

"That's just great…" she groaned, burying deeper under the covers.

The thought of lightning after her elevator incident was frightening enough, not to mention the fact that she had always been uncomfortable during storms. "It's just a warning," she said to herself, "Doesn't mean that it will happen."

And as if some deity were doing its all to contradict her, the entire sky flashed a bright yellow and was followed by a clap of thunder. She almost jumped completely out of her skin at the sound and immediately ventured around the room, looking for a flashlight in case the hotel was to lose power. When she realized that all they had to offer was a Bible, she was a bit disappointed.

Another crack of thunder shook the room, and she hugged onto her pillow even more tightly. That one landed close by, she just knew it. "…beware of golfball size hail…" the weather man was saying…but before he could say anything else, another boom sounded, and the power went out.

Selphie shrieked and ran out of her room as fast as she could, quickly grasping the key upon leaving. She felt her way down the hall until she found the room neighboring hers, the one Quistis would be staying in.

"Quisty!" she whispered loudly, banging on the door.

A moan was all she got as an answer, and she could hear the springs in the Instructor's bed squeak as she switched positions.

"Quisty! Let me in! You know I hate thunderstorms!" she said, a little louder this time.

No answer came from within Quistis' room. Selphie knew that as professional as Quistis looked while she was awake, she was about as attentive as a log when she slept. While a meteor couldn't wake her, once morning came, her alarm clock could.

Thunder struck again and with a loud squeal, Selphie banged her fists even harder against the wooden door. This time she did get a response. It sounded as if Quistis had thrown a very heavy, and possibly large, object at the door.

The lights flickered back on. Selphie glared at the light fixtures on the ceiling and reluctantly made her way back to her room, still shaking. She knew that Quistis was not going to wake up and let her stay with her for the night, and it was entirely too awkward to show up at Squall's door with a pillow asking to stay there. That is what she first thought. When she was nearing her room again, a blinding flash of light entered through a window at the end of the hall, and she saw the thunder strike outside. The sound was deafening and the entire hotel shook.

With an undignified scream, she ran in the direction of Squall's room and incessantly pounded on his door, crying, "Let me in, let me in, let me in!" in a very desperate voice. She heard the bedsprings groan as someone got up from the bed and the sound of someone lumbering for the door.

Very slowly the door opened and she saw an outline of a man, but this man was not Squall. He was entirely too thick to be Squall. He leaned up against the doorframe and said, "What're you doing here at this time of night little missy?"

Selphie made a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a squeal and shakily started backing up. Somehow she managed to get turned around in the hallway and now she had no idea where she was, or where she should run should she decide to dash back to her room, and the fact that everything was pitch black didn't make matters any better.

"S-Sorry to wake you, sir. I have the wrong room."

"Selphie, is that you screaming?" she heard a wonderfully familiar voice ask from behind her. She turned around to see a different outline, this one she was almost positive belonged to Squall. Lightning flashed again, briefly lighting up the hallway and she saw much to her liking, that it was indeed him. But as always, lightning is accompanied by thunder, and as soon as the loud boom resounded, she jumped and dashed into his open room.

"Wha-? Selphie?" he turned and walked into the dark room, closing the door behind him. With the next flash of lightning, he was able to make out a lump under the blankets of his bed, trembling.

With a sigh, he sat down on the foot of the bed and pulled the sheets away from her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, I t-tried Quisty, b-but she wouldn't w-wake up…" she stuttered

"You've never been this bad about storms before…"

"You've never been stuck in an elevator with a lightning spell out to get you…" she mumbled into the pillow she was still holding.

He sighed and leaned back, "No, but then again, I've never cast a thunder spell in a stalled elevator."

She blushed a furious red and buried her face back into her pillow. "Thanks for the sympathy."

When she felt his hand mess up her hair, she grumbled a few incoherent things to herself and looked up.

"Whatever, I guess I'll sleep on the floor."

"No! That's unfair!" she complained and desperately leaned forward to wrap herself around one of his arms. "I promise I'll leave as soon as the storm goes away! Just please, I don't want to be alone during the storm."

Whether he smiled out of pity, sympathy or amusement, she had no idea. But indeed, one corner of his mouth curled up to form an expression that was alien to his features. "Yeah, well I'm glad you find it so funny, mister," she finally said, smiling back and leaning against the headboard of the bed. The lights flickered momentarily due to another strike of lightning, then went back off.

"Be right back," Squall said quietly. He walked to the bathroom and came back with a candle, lightning it with a book of matches the Hotel provided.

"Yay! Light!" Selphie exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "How many of these do you have?"

"Just one," he answered, placing it on the table beside the bed.

"How long do you think it'll last?"

In response, he merely shrugged. Now with the flickering candlelight in the room, Selphie saw that Squall had probably been sleeping when she came screaming down the hallway and she felt really bad for disturbing him. He was wearing a pair of pajama pants, a white tank top, and his hair was a bit disheveled.

"I wonder how long the storm is going to last?" Selphie asked aloud.

Squall got off the bed and walked to his suitcase on the other side of the room, taking the candle with him. He pulled a deck of cards out of one of the pockets and sat down on the floor. Selphie plopped down from the bed and sat beside him, dragging her pillow and one of the sheets with her.

"Whatcha doin'?" she murmured, tiredly leaning her head on his shoulder.

He placed the candle down on the floor and instead of answering her directly, began building a card castle. "Ooh, I've can't do that without knocking it down," she giggled. "I've tried but it kept falling over."

"It's not hard," he said quietly, "You just have to be careful."

"Guess I'm not careful enough," she said, watching him cautiously stand the cards up.

Thunder struck close by again shaking the room, causing Selphie to jump and what was built of the card castle to fall. Squall murmured a profanity under his breath and started building the castle anew. Selphie could already tell, they were in for a long night.

Quistis awoke to the sound of the telephone ringing. Blindly, she fumbled around on the table next to her until she finally picked it up. "Yes?" she asked, her voice croaking.

"Good morning, this is your seven o'clock wake up call," a chipper voice spoke.

"Thanks," she muttered and hung the phone back up. She lied in bed a few more minutes before sitting up, rubbing her eyes and putting her glasses on. She squinted at the digital clock in the room to see that it was blinking at 2:46. "Must've lost power last night…" she yawned. Now that she could see, she got dressed and brushed her teeth.

She walked down the hall to Squall's hotel room. Knowing him, he was probably still sleeping, and he always left his door unlocked in case of emergencies. She threw open the door and prepared to call out "Wake up!" in a sing-song voice when she saw the two sleeping figures on the floor, with a half-built card castle in front of them. A candle was still burning on the floor nearby them. Smiling, she tiptoed in and blew it out, thus preventing a fire hazard. She'd have to scold him about that later.

Still trying to remain as quiet as possible, she ran out of his room, got her camera from her room and came back. She took several pictures of them sleeping on the floor. It was too adorable for her not to. Squall's arm was unknowingly draped over Selphie, and Selphie's head was buried into his shoulder.

Laughing to herself and her disposable camera, she ran back out of the room, silently shutting the door behind her.

When Selphie awoke in the morning, two thoughts were going through her head. Thought number one was that her back hurt really badly; she realized the hard way that sleeping on floors isn't too great on the spinal column. Thought number two was that Squall's arm was heavy.

Thought number two hit her much harder than thought number one.

Her eyes shot open to see Squall still sleeping, and his arm laying over her. She had no idea when she had fallen asleep the previous night. Hell, she had no idea when the storm had stopped, or whether or not it had actually _ever _stopped.

"Shit. I'm sorry, Selph…" she heard a voice say groggily. She looked up and her eyes automatically met with Squall's. He removed his arm and placed one of his hands over his forehead.

"Commander Leonhart, I feel taken advantage of," she said sarcastically, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Sorry," he said again. Then, grunting, he stood up. His walk was a bit funny since he was still so groggy. She watched him walk to the door, then he said, "Shit…" again, only this time a bit louder.

He was reading a note taped to his door.

Selphie got up and walked over to read it as well.

Hey you two lovebirds!

Has anyone ever told you two that you're _adorable _together? We were supposed to leave for Balamb by eight, but I decided I didn't want to wake you two. Don't worry about it. Hope you slept well last night!

Oh and don't worry, I won't tell _anyone_…

- -Quisty

It was silent for a few moments, then they awkwardly looked at each other. Selphie was blushing again. "I'm going to get dressed…" she said quickly, then grabbing her key and pillow, dashed down the hallway.

"I'll meet you down in the lobby in thirty minutes," Squall called after her.

After many delays, Selphie finally found herself walking down the familiar halls of Balamb Garden. It was a good thing that Squall had parked the motorcycle in a parking garage, otherwise it could've been really damaged by the storm. But because of this, and because Quistis left them early, they had to walk to the garage he had used.

They returned the motorcycle and bought train tickets back to Balamb. Several hours later they were back at home sweet home.

As Selphie dragged her suitcase boringly down the hallway to her dorm, she noticed something a bit peculiar about it. She saw a single white envelope protruding from the crack between the door and the wall. When she reached it, she yanked the envelope out. Just as she was getting ready to open it, a cry of, "Welcome back!" interrupted her

Rocks and Nida came stampeding down the hall at a tremendous speed. "Hey baby!" Selphie cooed, bending down to pet her dog on the head. She opened the door to her dorm to let Rocks in. "You want something to drink, Nida?" she asked, walking in.

"No, I'm good. But you know what you said about how parent night was like in Trabia?" she nodded. Nida laughed half-heartedly and motioned to the letter she was holding in her hand, "Funny story…"

To be continued….

**Gothic Rikku: **We have yet to upload the picture Bree drew of Sae and Arisu. I'll get on that soon. But, unfortunately, the devious duo and Renee was exempt from this chapter, but then again, so was Roxanne. Lol. They'll be back next chapter, I believe....

**Clad Magi Gar, Elcyion Pitye: **Ah, so you're fellow Naruto fans? Yes, it was inspired by the Naruto chuunin exam, but we tried to make it to where it wasn't COMPLETELY like it.

**Ezri-Candy: **Heh, funny story… You see, that was all my fault with the formatting. I was so tired when I posted, I completely forgot to transfer it to HTML format. And I uploaded it at as Word document instead. Grrr. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID ME! (-Anna)

**A/N: **Hi everyone. This chapter wasn't as long as our previous chapters, hehe, aren't you proud of us? Well, school is starting up next week (Monday is registration!), and because Anna is going to have to balance out work, school and writing, updates (if at all possible) may grow even less frequent than they already have been. There shouldn't be too long of pauses between chapters, and as always, everyone is welcome to email us if they have any questions. Especially if you're like BreeAnne and think because someone hasn't updated in a couple of weeks, that they're dead… Hehe.

Please leave us some reviews! Flames and feedback are always appreciated! And so is constructive criticism!


	11. Chapter 11

Taming the Lion: Chapter 11

"What funny story?" she asked Nida, looking slightly confused.

"Well, Cid thought your idea was a good one. He said that it would help to strengthen the relationship between the junior classmen and the SeeDs, so he told the Instructors about it, and the Instructors told their students about it… You wouldn't believe how many wanted you to come as their 'parent'."

Selphie laughed, "That many, huh?"

"Yeah, well only one got to actually send you an invitation."

"Oh? So who was it?" she asked, looking down at the envelope. 'Selphie' was scrawled childishly across the front of it.

Nida opened his mouth to say something else, but the walkie-talkie at his hip started to make a weird beeping sound, then Xu's voice said, "Nida, it's Xu. Where exactly did you set the Garden for when you put it on autopilot?"

"It's supposed to be en route back to Balamb."

"Well, that's nice. But one problem. We're headed straight for a giant rock wall and you're the only one who knows how to steer this S.O.B!"

"I-I'll be right there!" he said frantically, then running down the hall turned his head to yell, "I'll let you figure that one out yourself. See ya. Bye Rocks!"

Selphie glanced from the letter, to Nida's retreating figure, then back to the letter. She shrugged then walked inside her dorm, using her foot to shut the door behind her.

Rocks had already run to his corner and curled up into a ball. He seemed to be happy to be in the familiar setting. "Well, Rocks, I wonder who wrote me this letter. Do you know?"

The dog merely stared at her, his tongue hanging lopsidedly out of his mouth.

She smirked at him and wrenched the envelope open with her finger, pulling out a letter written on Garden stationary. Apart from the misspelled words and very childish handwriting, she was able to decipher the important facts:

One: she was supposed to attend Balamb Garden Parent Night for Brian, and two: Parent Night was that night. To top all of these things off, she was supposed to meet with her self-defense trainer that day to set up a training schedule.

With a sigh, she tacked the invitation up on her bulletin board with a pushpin and slumped onto her bed. Rocks jumped up onto the bed as well and licked her on the cheek.

Laughing, she wiped the slobber from her face and pushed him off of her. "Sheesh, Rocks, I'm so tired! I can't imagine doing these kinds of things everyday! No wonder why Quistis is always busy! I don't think I'm going to make it through my first month without getting an ulcer!"

Rocks barked and jumped off of the bed.

Selphie rolled over on the bed and turned on the radio, noticing the time. She groaned, sat up, and picked up the phone, dialing Squall's number.

"Hello…" his tired, monotonous voice answered.

"Guess what time it is?"

He muttered a profanity, "Is it time already?"

"Yeah."

"Sheez, I don't mean to be harsh, Selph, but when are you getting your license?"

"When I don't suck at driving anymore."

"You're good at flying the Ragnarok."

"…There's not nearly as much traffic in the air, Squall," she laughed. "Anyway, guess what else?"

He groaned and she could just see the Commander hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. "What?"

"I'm a mom!"

Selphie was sure that if she was in the same room with him at that moment, he would have performed a spit take that would give any actor a run for their money. "You're a what?"

"A mom."

"Keep it down, we've got too many crazy rumors flying around, that one will be very hard to explain."

Selphie laughed, "For Parent Night, tonight! Brian sent me an invitation. I'm going as his mom."

"Brian?"

"Yeah."

"Little Brian?"

"Yeah…"

"The same Brian that helped you move out of your dorm?"

"Yeah. Are you going anywhere with this…?"

Squall was silent for a while. "I got an invitation from him too…"

Now the two were both silent. "…So…we're parents?" Selphie said carefully, as if trying to slowly comprehend everything.

"For the night at least…it appears…" Squall muttered. "And the best part is…Laguna found out about it this time around."

She could hear the annoyance in his voice. "Is it really that bad, though?" she asked, quietly.

"He hasn't been a father to me for seventeen years; why start now?"

"You know…" she whispered, "I don't want to step on toes…but if I found that my father was still alive today, I'd still want to get to know him."

"It's not the same, Selph," he sighed.

"But would it hurt you so much to at least call him Dad?"

"That man is not my father," Squall seethed. "What he did was unacceptable."

Selphie gasped at Squall's sudden icy tone. It was no surprise to her, it was how he always used to sound, but she had thought, no, hoped that just maybe she'd helped bring him out of his emotional shell, even just a little bit.

"But for those of us who don't have parents at all, it just seems like you aren't giving him a fair shot. He wants you to forgive him, he wants to be your dad."

"Well he's too late. I don't have a dad; I will _never _call him my father. If he wanted a son, he would've come for me while I was still waiting for him in that godforsaken orphanage."

Again, silence passed between them. She wished that she could reach through that telephone cord and grasp his hand. She knew that Laguna wasn't the greatest father, but Hyne, he was better than she had. She couldn't even remember her parents. Their faces, their words, nothing. It was all gone.

"Be decent to him at least, okay? Promise me you won't be too harsh on him."

Squall said nothing in return. Selphie just sighed and allowed herself to collapse back into the bed. "So, today's my first day of training." Still no response. Now she was afraid that she had upset him. Selphie exhaled and looked down at the foot of the bed where some clothes had been thrown haphazardly, "Squall…?" she finally asked.

"Hmm?"

She felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her chest. He wasn't _that _angry with her, yet at least.

"I was just wondering…" now she was searching for the words, not sure of how to say what was really on her mind. "I know what negotiators do and everything…but why is it that people look as if they pity me when they hear that I'm the new one?"

Squall was silent for a while, once again. Now he was the one searching for the right words. He eventually sighed and said, "Selph, I'll pick you up in a few minutes. We need to talk."

That weight that had just been lifted from her chest was dropped back on it, with much more force. Maybe even with a friend of its attached. All she knew was that she heard him hang up the phone, and still she sat there, half dazed, listening to the dial tone.

No good conversation ever started with the words, "We need to talk."

Looking worriedly at Rocks, she hung up her own phone and fell back onto the bed, waiting for Squall to arrive. There was nothing else that she really could do. She felt sick to her stomach. Groaning, she rolled onto her stomach and pulled her pillow over her head.

The couple of minutes seemed like an eternity when she finally heard someone rapping softly on her door. "It's open," she said, voice muffled between the pillow and mattress.

She heard the door open and a small sound that could've been a chuckle. She felt Squall sit on the foot of the bed then reach over to pull the pillow off of her head. Yet she fought against him.

"You hate me, don't you?" she muttered.

"No, I don't," Squall said, still tugging at the pillow. "Come on or you're going to be late."

She sat up and tried her best to glare at him, and when she couldn't succeed without laughing, she sighed in exasperation and leaned her head against the fur collar of his leather jacket. "You said we needed to talk…"

"Yes, we do."

"Is it bad?"

"In a way."

And in that second, it felt as if her entire world came crashing down around her.

Squall sighed and pushed the hair from his face. "The council…" he started quietly, almost unsure of what to say, "…is a bunch of idiots."

She looked at him in confusion.

"Let's put it this way, Selph…you know what a negotiator is, right?"

"Yeah, they help solve problems, right?"

The Commander groaned and dragged a hand down his face. "In a way, yes. Those problems typically involve hostages, guns and other concealed weapons."

Selphie continued to look at him. It wasn't as if she was never put into situations where she didn't have to deal with a scumbag with a switchblade. "Yeah, but I've been trained in combat."

"Yes, in _combat_. But when you combat someone, you always have your weapon."

Her eyes grew wide when she remembered what the paper she'd read the previous day said, 'WHEN AT WORK, NEGOTIATORS ARE TO BE UNARMED'.

"That's what I mean. If someone comes at you when you're negotiating, your only defense is what you know."

Now, it was Selphie who was uncharacteristically silent. So many thoughts were whizzing through her head, she wasn't sure what she was actually thinking. _How many negotiators has the Council lost? How many have died? How many have been severely wounded? _These thoughts must have shown through on her facial expression because all of a sudden, Squall's eyes changed and he looked concerned.

"Well, if I take self defense classes, then I'll be okay…" she said slowly, then she looked at him, hoping that he would at least humor her, "Right?"

He nodded, though his eyes still seemed saddened and faraway. After a short pause, he reached in his pocket and pulled out the keys to the Garden car, "You ready to go? You don't want to be late."

"Hey! Renee! Over here!"

Renee looked over her shoulder to see an excited brunette hopping up and down in her chair. She pulled on Seifer's trench coat and the two steered around to set their trays down on the table next to Sae and Arisu.

"What's up guys?" Renee asked, sitting down.

"Okay, here's the plan," Arisu whispered as she leaned toward the center of the table. She motioned with her forefinger for everyone to follow in suit, and they obeyed. Her eyes darted to the different tables, as if making sure no one was listening in, then very quietly she said, "We set loose a herd of Mesmerize in the Garden, and then we all hide in my dorm. While the Garden is in an uproar, we dig out of my dorm through the closet using mainly spoons and toothpicks, and if we dig at just the right angle the hole should eventually lead to the basement. We shut off the Garden power supply, then sneak outside and take refuge in the Balamb alleyway. Next, we swim our way to Fisherman's Horizon, then live in hiding under the names of Crazy Duck, Stealthy Turtle, Battle Moose and Convoy Butterfly."

Seifer and Renee traded confused glances, then looked at Sae to see if she knew what was going on. Instead, all they got was, "Oooh! Oooh! I call Convoy Butterfly!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Renee laughed. "Are you going to go through all this trouble just to skip out on parent night tonight?"

The two girls traded glances and looked back at Renee and Seifer with pleading eyes. "You don't understand how horrible it was last year!!" Arisu yelled.

"Yeah! Our parents came!"

"It's Parent Night; that's what they're supposed to do."

"But you just can't _comprehend_ the horrible-ness that is our parents!"

"They can't be nearly as bad as you two, right?" Seifer chuckled, but when he saw the serious expressions on their faces he stopped himself. "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad! You haven't seen your parents in ages, you should enjoy them for the people who can't see their parents tonight."

"Oh, that was beautiful, Seifer," Renee beamed, her eyes glowing like stars.

"Damn, that was the record for the corniest piece of shit to have ever come out of my mouth," he grumbled.

Sae and Arisu sighed and looked at their food that was now cold. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sae muttered.

"Yeah, if we're gonna skip out on parent night we might as well not spoil it for everyone else."

Then, trading devious glances, they jumped out of their chairs and ran out of the cafeteria. "See ya guys, and thanks for the idea Seifer!"

"What've you done?" Renee asked as she watched them leave.

"If anything happens that results in injury I had nothing to do with it," Seifer declared, a bit too loudly.

Renee covered his mouth and smiled uneasily at all of the people now looking at them.

As the two girls ran out of the cafeteria, they saw a black figure standing at the end of the hallway and they were fast approaching it. They were running too fast to stop in time, and they couldn't think quickly enough to dodge it. Instead, they collided with it, and the force of the impact threw them against the floor. "Where are you two going in such a hurry?" a familiar face said, looking down at them

Rubbing her head and squinting her eyes in pain, Arisu glared up at Nida. "We're trying to escape Garden and the wickedness of Parent Night. But now that you've seriously screwed up our plans…"

Nida's face distorted into a mixture of guilt and fear. "You're trying to get away too?!"

"Yeah. You too, I imagine?" Sae asked, as Nida helped both her and Arisu to their feet.

"Hyne, yes. My parents are going to be here any minute and they're both lunatics."

Arisu put her hand on his shoulder, as if comforting him, "You have my sympathy. Would you like to go into hiding with us at Fisherman's Horizon?"

"I'm Convoy Butterfly!!" Sae exclaimed.

"Oh, anything! Just get me away from here!"

"Nida! This is Xu!" came a crackling voice from the walkie-talkie at Nida's belt. Nida rolled his eyes and threw the device against the hard tile floor.

"We've already landed by Balamb, what else can she want? Hurry! Let's escape while there's still time!"

The three SeeDs ran in a frenzied rush for the front gate. Just as they were getting ready to run out, a cry of, "Oh! Nida! There you are! We haven't seen you in so long!!" rang out.

Sae and Arisu turned to find their pilot friend being embraced by two mysterious figures. "It's too late for me!" he cried after them, "Save yourselves!! HURRY!"

With determination, the two girls continued to run from Garden and the Parent Night that would be held within.

Just when they thought that salvation was near, just when they thought that they were safe from the torment of Parent Night, they saw the second worst thing that they could have imagined.

A wall of junior classmen was blocking their progression out of the Garden. "Don't make us bowl you over!" Arisu screamed, not slowing down but speeding up. Eyes squinted, the two ran until they were just about ready to collide with the kids when Sae stopped herself, and grabbing the back of Arisu's shirt, managed to stop her too.

"Why'd you stop me!!?" Arisu screamed dramatically. "We almost made it! We were almost _free!"_

Sae slapped her, "Snap out of it! You're crazy! You don't want to hurt children in the process of escaping!"

Arisu looked at her counterpart as if she was the one that was losing her mind. "You _really_ need to sort out your priorities," the blond said, shaking her head.

"Ms. Arisu?" a little girl asked, stepping forward. "I wanted to give you this!" she handed the blond an envelope, and then blushing, ran back to the other children.

"And this is for you Ms. Sae," another girl said.

The two SeeDs exchanged glances and tore open the envelopes and were horrified by what they saw.

"I'm too young to be a mommy!" Arisu cried, throwing the paper in the air. "I'm not ready!"

"So, tell me again, exactly why doesn't Ma Dincht have her driver's license?" Rinoa yelled over the loud techno music that blared through Zell's car speakers.

"Well, after she failed it so many times, the Balamb police decided she'd be a hazard to society if she was ever to actually pass it," the blond laughed, leaning up against the torn leather seats of his old pick-up.

The two were on their way into Balamb to pick up Zell's mother for Parent Night, and other than their dispute over what kind of music they should listen to, things were going well. Rinoa leaned forward and nonchalantly turned down the music.

"There, that's better, now we can talk," she smiled at him.

"Aw, but that was the best part!"

"It all sounds the same! It's all just synthesizers!"

Zell shook his head, and smiled still keeping his clear blue eyes focused on the road. "So, did you get a hold of your father?" he asked.

"Well…I got his voicemail both times I called, so I just left him a message," she said quietly. Zell knew that Rinoa and her father didn't have the best relationship, hell if one could even call it that, but he could tell that she still wanted Caraway to accept her one way or another. This being her first year as a SeeD at Balamb Garden, she wanted him to come to her first Parent Night. Zell wondered himself whether or not the infamous General of the Galbadian army would grace Garden with his presence or not.

"Even if he doesn't show up, I can just hang out with you and your mom, right?"

"Of course, Ma loves you. She keeps saying that if I don't marry you then she'll adopt you. One way or the other, she wants you in the family," he laughed.

"At least someone does," she muttered.

"Hey, don't talk like that," Zell said, nudging her with his elbow.

Rinoa looked back at him with a stare that could give the devil a run for his money, but with a sigh she merely rolled down the window and stuck her head out.

It was eerily silent as he steered the old rusted pick-up into Balamb. Wanting to break the silence, Zell scratched the tattoo on the side of his face and said, "Come on, cheer up. Tonight's not going to be entirely fun as it already is, but don't make it any harder on yourself by being pessimistic."

With a soft sigh, the brunette turned around, her hair messed from exposure to the wind. "I'm trying not to be…but you don't know him like I do. All of the forgotten birthdays…school pageants, but he could always remember Mom's and his anniversary. He'd always do something incredibly sweet and romantic for it. That's why she never left him. He treated her like crap most of the time, but when he wanted to be sweet, he could apparently be the sweetest man on earth." Tears welling in her eyes, she looked back out the window, letting the salty pools of tears dry from the autumn wind against her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Rin, I really am." Not sure of what else to do, he wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her back so that she could lean her head against his shoulder. With an exasperated sigh, and using only his left hand to steer, Zell parked the old truck in front of the small house he grew up in.

"You coming or not?" he asked, looking down at the top of her head.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she answered. Nonchalantly she swung her legs to the side, opened up the door and leapt out of the car. Just as she was walking over to Zell's side of the car, she heard someone shout, "Hey, hey, hey! Look who the cat dragged in!"

The two spun around at the sound of the familiar voice and saw Renee and Seifer approaching them. Seifer wore his usual smirk and was waving, Renee on the other hand looked as if she didn't really want to get any closer to Rinoa.

"Visiting Ma?" Seifer chuckled. "You really are a Chicken-Wuss. Does she make you cookies too?"

Zell blushed and looked down, "Is there something you want to say, Seifer? Because if there is, then why don't you just say it?"

Seifer shrugged and looked around, "We were just hanging out in Balamb and saw you, we decided to bug you that's all."

"What're you doing in Balamb?" Rinoa asked.

"Renee's making me buy a suit," Seifer complained, folding his arms. He looked as if he still resented her for that.

Renee rolled her eyes and laughing quietly, she said, "He thought he'd wear his trench coat to Parent Night."

"I've worn it every other year!"

"You're going to Parent Night? Are you taking a younger SeeD or something?" Rinoa asked, knowing that Seifer had no parents, nor adoptive parents.

"No."

"Then why are you going?" Zell asked.

"Matron is going as his parent," Renee smiled, stroking his arm. Seifer turned a violent shade of red before shaking his head, as if hoping the color would fly from his cheeks.

Zell was already laughing though, "Matron is taking you? Isn't that just a little awkward? Especially after her psychotic episode last year, and the whole trying to take over the world thing?"

"Shut it, Dincht," Seifer seethed.

"Didn't you guys have an affair as well?"

"I swear to Hyne, Chicken-Wuss, if you don't shut your pie hole by the time I count to three you'll find the cartilage in your nose lodged permanently into your brain."

Zell cleared his throat and looked away, though his shoulders were still shaking from silent laughter.

As if trying to regain his dignity, Seifer looked up and added, "Matron used to come as mine, Squall's and Quistis' parent since she raised us."

Wanting to change subjects, for Seifer's sake more than anyone else's, Rinoa piped up and said, "What is everyone else doing tonight? Besides Zell of course, we all know Ma is coming."

"My parents are coming down from Galbadia to visit tonight," Renee announced.

"Quistis is an Instructor, so she doesn't need anyone to represent her. She's going to be meeting a lot of parents tonight and give out progress reports," Zell said, pretending to choke. "Lucky woman she is. Gah, that sounds so boring."

"Squall and Selphie are going as Brian's parents," Renee laughed. "It was the cutest thing. That child bragged about it everywhere. Apparently there's a loophole in what Cid sent out and somehow Brian gets to have both a mom and a dad tonight."

"Selphie and Squall of all people," Zell chuckled.

"Why would he pick Leonhart and Ms. Sunshine?" Seifer asked.

"He idolizes them. It's the most adorable thing watching him," Renee said.

"I can understand him idolizing Squall, and wanting to grow up like _him_. But Selphie? Could you imagine a child growing up with those two personalities clashing?" Rinoa said shaking her head. "It would be interesting."

"So no one asked for you to go as their parent, Seifer?" Renee asked.

Seifer kicked at a rock on the ground. "Oh, I'm sure plenty of people asked."

"Then why didn't you just go around as someone's dad for the night?"

"Cid told them that I was unavailable for it," he grumbled.

Renee patted his arm and opened her mouth to say something, but just when she did, another voice from behind shouted, "Zell, sweetie! You're here! Why haven't you come inside to say hi to your ma? Oh! You must be Zell's friends! Come on in! I have cookies!"

"Seifer, we better not. We need to get that suit…" Renee said quietly, tugging his arm in the opposite direction. Momentarily, she and Rinoa exchanged a look that neither Zell nor Seifer could interpret, then without a word, they turned away from each other and walked in different directions; Rinoa into Ma's house, and Renee toward town again.

"I don't care if you claim to like him, he's insane. I can't believe the committee set him up as your self defense trainer."

"Oh, come on Squall. Don't you think you're being a bit high strung? He was a unique character, but I'm sure he comes highly recommended if he's who the committee assigned for me."

Squall looked at her momentarily then shook his head and transferred his eyes back to the road. Selphie sighed dreamily and resting her chin on her hand, looked out the open window. "I think self defense lessons are going to be a lot of fun."

To her left she heard what sounded like Squall choking. She turned around and looked at him to see he was indeed coughing, quite hard. "Are you all right?" He waved a hand at her. "Was it something I said?"

"Fun?" he finally asked after regaining his composure. Worriedly, he looked between her and the road, then with a sigh, he relaxed his shoulders. "Well, if you ever feel even _slightly_ uncomfortable around him, just…uh…just let me know, and I'll…uh, I'll take care of it."

"Squall, is it just me or do you sound worried?" Selphie chided, giggling.

For a second it seemed as if he blushed, but it soon disappeared, "I deal with guys like him on missions. They're scumbags. Sorry, I wouldn't trust him."

"But you need to give people the benefit of the doubt," Selphie smiled. "Not everyone's as bad as you think."

"Not everyone is as good as you think."

"Granted, but still. It's much harder to live life if you think everyone you know is going to betray you."

"It's always worked for me."

Selphie smiled weakly, shook her head and looked back out the window. "Well, I've noticed that it does tend to keep you on your toes. But always being on alert isn't good for you either. Don't you ever get paranoid?"

Squall said nothing, only pretended that he hadn't heard that last comment and continued down the freeway. Several minutes passed by in silence, but it felt eons longer.

Finally, Selphie could barely distinguish Garden in the distance. Surrounding Garden was a swarm of traffic that was about five times busier than normal.

Squall pulled the Garden car into the parking area and was surprised beyond belief that he couldn't find a single place to park. "What is everyone doing here so early?!" Squall exclaimed. He sounded both agitated and worried.

After finding an empty space, Squall put the huge armored car into park and ripped the keys from the ignition in annoyance.

"Oh, come on Squall. Calm down. Don't worry! It'll be fun!!" Selphie said with a singsong voice. She then leapt out of the car and motioned him to follow her inside with her head. "Now, let's go pick up our son!"

"Please, don't say it like that…"

"Nida, sweetheart! I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?" an overly excited mother exclaimed as she hugged the pilot rather tightly.

"Well, at the moment, I'm unable to breathe…" he choked out.

"I'm glad to see you're doing all right, Son," his father said, giving him a friendly punch in the back.

"Dad, can you make Mom let go of me?"

"Come on, sport, you're in military school. Surely a motherly hug isn't as painful as some of the experiences you've been through!" his father exclaimed, his eyebrows raised.

"This is what you get from staying away from me so long!" his mother squealed, hugging him even more tightly.

"And…I think my vertebral column just collapsed…" he announced nonchalantly.

"Okay, okay, Janice, I think you can let go of him now."

Ever so reluctantly, Nida's mother let the pilot out of her death grip. Grimacing, and panting slightly, Nida massaged his sore ribs, then looking at his father said, "Typically, our opposing forces aren't made up of desperate mothers." Then, looking at his mother, who was still beaming at him, he said, "But maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea…for close combat…"

"Hey, Nida! Having fun?" Zell called from across the room. Nida whipped around to see the martial artist and his mother waving. Smiling, he waved back, then he turned back to his parents. His mom was smiling even bigger now.

"Oh, Nida, is he your boyfriend? He's a cutie!"

"I'm not gay, Mom."

"No one ever said you were, Son," his father said.

"But it would be fine if you were," his mother added, giving his father 'the look'. "I would rather you let it out than wallow in it."

"That's wonderful that I have your support, Mom, but I'm not gay."

"And there are all sorts of nice boys out there."

"I'm not gay!!"

"Tachi? Have you seen Sae? I haven't seen her anywhere tonight!"

"Sae? I can't say that I have. But you know, I'm having trouble finding Arisu also."

"Well, then," a man said, puffing out his chest, "that means one thing: they're together somewhere."

"Are they avoiding us?" Arisu's mother pouted. "We haven't seen them in so long, you would think that they would be the least bit excited to at least say hello!"

From beneath a nearby table, two girls were lying on their stomachs, completely concealed by the light blue tablecloth that was draped over it.

"Shhh, stay quite," Sae whispered to her counterpart. From the inch of space they had from the tablecloth to the ground, they were studying the placement of their parents' shoes. "They're still approximately five feet off."

"We'll find them faster if we split up."

"But what if we can't find each other? This is a _big _building!"

"Then…uh…we'll…"

Arisu shook her head and swore under her breath. "Hyne, they're so annoying. I wish that they'd just hurry up and go look for us somewhere else!"

"I know!! Let's check the dormitories!"

Sae pressed the side of her head against the cold linoleum floor to watch the four sets of shoes walk away. "And we're safe! For the time being at least," she beamed.

"Man, and they're headed to the dorms? Where are we gonna go to hide from them?" Arisu whined.

"We'll just have to stick it out here a little longer," Sae shrugged, pulling her knees to her chest.

Suddenly, the tablecloth lifted. Arisu gasped loudly, and covered her mouth. Both of the girls knew that they had been found. But, instead of it being a parent, it was Nida. He looked desperate.

"Sorry, this hiding spot is taken!" Sae declared, trying to push him away.

"Please, you have to let me in. My parents are coming! I conveniently lost them while they were at that table getting cookies! And all of the other tables are taken up too! And the closets!"

"How many places have you been trying to hide i-" Arisu started, but before she could finish, Nida pushed her out of the way and crammed his way between the two girls.

"So, your night's been that bad too?" Sae whispered.

Nida nodded. "My parents are still adamant on finding me a boyfriend."

"Aw, that's sweet," Arisu laughed, "The only problem is that you're straight and currently dating Xu."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll have to introduce them eventually. That way they can stop with the whole 'gay' bit."

"Well, it's good that they want to help out even if you were. You know a lot of parents wouldn't do that."

"I know, I know."

"Those putzes, where the hell did they run off to?" a voice came from outside of the table. Sae stiffened up. That was most definitely her father's voice, and 'putz' was definitely one of his favorite insults (beaten out only by schmuck). The pair of black, highly polished shoes were right in plain view, the foot was tapping impatiently.

"Hm, could they be _here_?" The tablecloth was lifted, and because of the lack of space, the two girls couldn't mosey their way out fast enough. "I found them! Everyone! They _were _hiding from us!!"

"Nida! There you are! You had us worried!"

"Busted…" the three SeeDs muttered simultaneously.

"So…um…this is the second floor classroom…" Rinoa said quietly, trying to catch her father's eye. It was a big enough surprise to her that he actually showed up, but by this point in the night, she felt as if it would have been better if he hadn't. He hadn't been paying attention to her at all.

"Quistis teaches up here actually. She mainly teaches the younger classes, but I have a class with her now that I'm finally an official SeeD and…" The ringing of General Caraway's phone cut her off.

"That's nice…" he said very nonchalantly, then he answered his cell.

With her hands clasped behind her back, Rinoa leaned forward, her black hair falling over her shoulders. "You know, I got one of the highest recorded scores on my written and field exam combined. I'm in the top ten." The Galbadian General glared at her for interrupting his conversation

"That's great…" he said venomously, then went back to 'business'. "I told you, I don't want anything to do with the-"

Rinoa's eyes misted over and she looked very saddened at the fact that her father didn't seem to care for any of her accomplishments. "…I also currently bought a pet Moomba and named him Snooky Ookums…" she said, as if testing to make sure he was even listening.

"Listen Jerald, I'll call you back… No, it's my daughter…I'm supposed to be participating in some Parent Night tonight at her school. Bye." He flipped the phone shut and focused his piercing stare at her, then shook his head in disdain.

"Oh wow, I'm _so _glad that I'm more important to you than your business call."

"You should be. That's a very important case."

Rinoa opened her mouth in shock. "You're unbelievable! I'm your daughter! Your _only _daughter! I'm all that remains of your wife! And you can't even stand to look at me! Is that all I am to you Dad? Am I an embarrassment? A disappointment?"

Caraway said nothing, only looked on at her as she ranted.

"Everyone says that I'm unfair to you, that I don't give you enough chances. It's all crap! All of it! I'm sick of it, Dad! I'm sick of being the best that I can be, so that maybe one day I can impress you. So that maybe one day you can look at me and with pride say, 'That's my daughter', but I guess that's a bit too much to ask for, isn't it?"

The General sighed and flicked his black eyes down to the ground. "No, Rinoa, it isn't."

"Then why the hell can't you at least pretend to be the smallest bit interested in what I'm doing!? Am I really so repulsive to you that you can't support anything I do!? I'll bet that the only reason you even came tonight was so that it would keep your public image up. Am I right? Am I!?"

At that point, Rinoa's fists were clenched so tightly that she could feel her nails boring into the flesh of her palms. She clenched her jaw, and huffing and puffing ever so slightly, she turned on her booted heels and stomped out of the door.

With a chubby hand grasped tightly by Selphie's slender fingers, and the other one completely covered by Squall's big palm, Brian strutted between the two SeeDs, smiling broadly to himself.

Selphie glanced at the paper she had been handed by Xu, stating all of his classes and teachers that she would have to visit. "Well, looky here, Instructor Trepe is one of your teachers?" Selphie asked brightly.

"Uh huh…" Brian answered quietly.

"Well, she's one of my friends. Is she nice to you?"

"Uh huh…"

"Well good."

"What classes do you take?" Squall asked, sounding rather uncomfortable.

"Um…basic magic…" Brian said quietly, "Basic defense, weapon training, health, and gym."

"Let me guess, Instructor Trepe teaches your basic magic?" Selphie laughed.

"Yeah."

"Oh, Quisty is such a magic nerd, but that's okay. Between you and me…" Selphie leaned down and motioned Brian closer. Looking slightly uneasy, he approached her and she whispered in his ear, "I'm a better spell caster than her anyway."

Brian giggled and Selphie laughed again.

"What'd you just tell the kid?" Squall asked.

"Nothing that wasn't the truth."

Still smiling broadly, Selphie stood back up and began walking only to run directly into a solid entity.

"You may be the better spell caster, but I'm the better strategist…" a familiar voice chided.

Rubbing her head, Selphie whined, "Hyne Quisty, why d'you gotta listen in to everyone's conversations all the time? And aren't you supposed to be meeting with parents in your classroom?"

"Yes, I am. But I took a break so I could come down here and get some cookies from the refreshment table!" the blond instructor smiled and without saying anything else, disappeared.

Squall looked over his shoulder to find Laguna pushing his way through the crowd, surrounded by his entourage of bodyguards and personal assistants.

"Come on, let's go on upstairs to see some of Brian's teachers," he said in a desperate attempt to flee before Laguna noticed him.

Completely unaware that this was a tactic to outmaneuver Squall's old man, Selphie threw a fist into the air and exclaimed, "All right! Let's go!"

The three walked up the stairs to the elevator. Squall jammed the button on the wall repeatedly, as if the overuse of it would make the elevator approach faster. Finally, the metallic doors opened up and a flood of people spewed out.

Just as the last person was getting out of the elevator, who just so happened to be a little old lady, the commander heard a cry of, "Squall! I've found you!" Without further thought, he helped pull the old woman out of the elevator, a bit too forcibly, and then shoved Selphie and Brian in it.

"Hey, Squall! That's not fair to your father!" Selphie complained once she saw the man running up the stairs just as the heavy metal door slid shut. "Let him on!" she yelled, trying to press the button to open the door back up. Yet, Squall held her hands back until the elevator started to slowly rise to the second floor.

Selphie scoffed at the Commander and folded her arms. "I can't believe you! You're so horrible to him. He's really, honestly trying Squall. Why can't you accept that?"

Not even waiting for him to reply, she grabbed Brian's hand again, and when the ding resonated through the elevator, she walked briskly off, taking the boy with her. Squall was following behind, throwing his arms around wildly as he argued back with her. "I don't know how to act around him, Selph! Think of it that way. What am I supposed to do? He's been gone for seventeen years. Do you honestly think that after him being gone so long I can just all of a sudden call him 'dad' again?"

Without turning around to face him, Selphie replied, "You could make just as much of an effort as he has been. I don't see you trying to act like a son, but I sure see him trying to act like a father."

Brian looked uncomfortably between the two SeeDs as they quarreled on.

"Look, I'll talk to him, all right? I just don't know what to say!"

Selphie stopped, mid-step in the middle of the hallway, and Squall stopped just a few paces behind her.

"It's better than nothing, am I right?" he offered.

This time she turned to face him. "You mean you're actually going to make an effort?" He nodded. "You're not going to half-ass it?" Eyes widened a bit he nodded again. She looked down at Brian who was also looking at her wide-eyed. He'd heard the bigger and badder SeeDs swear, but never Selphie. "Don't say that sweetheart, that's a bad word," she said quietly, "I shouldn't have used it."

"Wow, wow, wow…Ms. Sunshine is picking up some bad habits!" Seifer laughed from up ahead.

"Yeah, I must've picked them up from you boys," Selphie smiled at the oncoming pair. "Well, Seifer, don't you look spiffy?" Selphie laughed when she noticed his suit. Matron was walking beside him in her normal wispy and graceful fashion.

"Oh, Selphie, sweetie, you really shouldn't swear. You're too sweet and innocent for that kind of thing anyway!" Matron said in her typical airy voice.

"Is that supposed to be some sort of compliment?"

"Take it whichever way you want to," the woman smiled warmly. "Who is this precious little guy?"

Brian immediately grabbed around Selphie's leg.

"Don't worry, Brian, this is Matron. She was like my mom for about…three years wouldn't you say?"

Matron seemed to think for a bit, "Yes, that's about right. Three years, two months, approximately."

Selphie smiled down at the top of Brian's head and messed up his hair. "She won't bite you. I promise."

Very reluctantly, Brian stood away from Selphie's leg and looked up into Edea's honey colored eyes.

"Aren't you a sweet thing?" she murmured. "So, you're taking him around as his adoptive parent, I take it."

"Yeah, Squall too."

"Oh, that's interesting. Found a loophole, didn't we?" she smiled at the little boy. "He must be a bright one."

Selphie smiled and nodded.

"Well, Squall dear, you've been standing back there saying nothing. How've you been lately? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I've been fine."

"He has a lot on his mind…" Selphie mouthed, and Matron nodded.

"I'll see you two around. And please, if you ever have time, come visit me some day. It gets awfully lonely in that orphanage all by myself."

"We'll do that someday, then."

Matron and Seifer waved goodbye and walked away.

"Well, since Instructor Trepe is downstairs snacking on cookies, let's go see…Instructor Daly first!" Selphie said, sounding as enthusiastic as she could.

"What does Instructor Daly teach?"

"Basic defense…" Brian answered as he walked alongside her.

"Squall! There you are! Please, don't run!" Laguna's desperate voice came from behind.

Squall spun around to come face-to-face with his biological father. "Look, Mr. Loire, I'm sorry, but I was just getting ready to meet with one of Brian's teachers. Can this possibly wait?"

Laguna seemed to have been deeply hurt by that statement. Selphie looked between the two men, and nudged Squall in the side, and standing on her tiptoes, whispered in his ear, "Don't worry about it, I can go in alone. I'll let you two talk out here."

Squall looked after her, but she had soon enough disappeared into the classroom and left Squall standing uncomfortably next to Laguna, just outside it.

"So…how've you been?" Laguna asked, pushing his long brown locks from out of his face. He was still out of breath from the run.

"Oh, you know…"

"Oh, right…"

It was silent as they took turns looking at each other and back to the floor. "So, um, Selphie was made an A-Rank SeeD just the other day…" Squall said quietly.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Selphie…now…which one was she?"

"She was just out here…" Squall replied.

"Oh…the short one?"

"Yeah…"

"She's really…" for a few seconds it seemed as if Laguna was searching for a word, but when nothing came to mind he answered, "…short."

Squall looked at him confusedly, but just sighed and said, "Whatever."

"So, um…what job did she get?"

"She's right in there, you don't have to act like she's invisible…" Squall answered monotonously.

"Oh…right…well…what job _did _she get?"

"Negotiator," the Commander answered shortly.

"O-oh." Laguna's eyes widened. "That's too bad."

Squall scoffed and shook his head, "You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"I try to avoid it," the president answered, with a slight smile across his lips.

Laguna peaked into the classroom through the window to see Selphie standing up and shaking the teacher's hand. "She is a cutie; is she your new girlfriend?"

Squall stumbled around the question nervously, and hadn't even answered when Laguna gave him a playful punch in the arm. "You've got good taste. It must be because you got my good looks," he chuckled. "You must be quite the lady's man."

Squall merely rolled his eyes.

Laguna looked at him nervously, then coughed and said, "Well, she'll be back out here any minute now, so I'll let you two be alone. I really came because I wanted to see you. You're the second top student here, I don't really need to talk to your teachers, do I?"

Squall shook his head.

"Well, then I was thinking…um…if you wanted to…because I'm not saying that you have to!" Now it was Laguna who seemed to be extremely nervous about whatever he was trying to say. "Ellone has been asking about you, and she's been wanting you up to spend the weekend or the holidays, whatever. And I'd love to have you up to the palace too… I know that it probably doesn't sound like something you'd like…so you can invite someone to come with you since you probably wouldn't be able to stand being alone around me all the time…"

"I don't know…"

"I didn't think you'd be too keen on the idea. But will you at least think about it?"

Squall looked down at the floor then flicked his ice blue eyes back up to meet his father's warm green eyes. "I'll think about it," he responded.

"You will?" Laguna's entire face seemed to light up. "Really!? That's so much better than the response I thought I was going to get!"

Squall wasn't sure if he already regretted telling Laguna a definite "maybe", because it seemed as if the president was already planning the entire trip in his head. But who really knew what all was really going in the man's mind?

"I need to get back to Esthar, I'm about," he looked at his watch, "an hour late for a meeting with a foreign diplomat." He smiled sheepishly. "And he'll probably be waiting for another three hours until I get back."

As much as he struggled to not let it happen, Squall felt the sides of his mouth curl up into that unfamiliar smile. Laguna seemed to have been taken aback by it, but was immediately overjoyed. "Is it so amusing to you that I'm missing an important meeting that you actually smile? Well, good! You need to smile more often! Frowning takes more muscles and gives you wrinkles! That's why I look so damn good, even at forty!"

It was silent between the two until a few seconds later when the door squeaked back open. Squall felt Selphie's hand on his shoulder and heard her whisper, "How'd it go?"

"Surprisingly well."

Brian tugged at the bottom of Squall's leather jacket. "Isn't he the president of Esthar?" he asked shyly.

"Yes, he is," Squall replied.

"And he's your dad?"

Before Squall could reply, Selphie answered, "Yes," for him.

"That's really cool," Brian said, his eyes glowing.

"And guess what that means? Since Squall is your adoptive father for the night, that means President Loire is your adoptive grandfather!" Selphie exclaimed.

Now both Laguna's and Brian's eyes glowed with excitement. "I have a grandson for the night! Isn't that wonderful?! I'm calling Esthar and telling them to cancel that meeting!"

Just as he was getting ready to do so, a familiar man walked up from behind the president. "Laguna, the answer is no. That would be the third time you've canceled on Mr. Dingus. Just come on back downstairs where everyone's waiting for you."

"Aww, but Kiros! I have a grandson!"

"You can see him again soon."

"But he's only my grandson for the night!"

"Huh?"

Laguna turned around and picked Brian up by the armpits and held him out to Kiros, like holding out a puppy. "Just look at how cute he is! And you want me to go back to Esthar?"

"Laguna, come on. You're lucky you were able to come here on such short notice."

Laguna tried pouting, but when that didn't work, he sighed and put Brian down. "Okay, I'm going." As he started off down the hall, he turned back to Squall and called out, "Give me a call if you decide you want to come over!" and then the two slender figures disappeared inside the elevator.

Selphie was smiling widely at Squall, then looked back down at Brian's schedule. "Okay, Instructor Vickson is next!"

Walking to the next classroom, she nudged Squall in the side and beamed up at him. "I told you it wouldn't be so bad. Laguna is a sweet man." Squall smiled back down at her and messed up her hair.

"What do you want me to say? That you're always right?"

"No, because that's a lie. Just most of the time," she winked.

**A/N:** In how many different ways can one say, "We're sorry?" Well, let us try! We're so sorry! In Spanish, "Somos arrependitos!" In German, "Es tut wir Leid!" French, "Nous sommes désolés!" Italian, "Siamo spiacenti!" Yes, even in Portuguese, "Sentimos muito!" We realize that the wait for this chapter was insanely long. As a matter of fact, it has taken us…((does some quick mathematics)) three months and twenty-seven days to update. But…please forgive us?

This year both BreeAnne and I have obtained part time jobs. Mine is a bit more demanding than hers (I'm a waitress…heh…if you can imagine) and I work three days or more a week. Then, we have to add on the fact that the classes we have been put in this year are also very demanding and the homework is suicidal! We can promise everyone that updates will _not _be as frequent as they used to be. But we will finish this story, come hell or high water!

**Ezri-Candy: **Thank you so much for all your support! We really love the compliments and comments we get from you. And let us know when you write that Squalphie! We'll definitely have to read it!


	12. Chapter 12

**Ezri-Candy:** We loooove Gravitation! Inuyasha is a series that we (sadly) fell out of, though it does have a very original and interesting storyline. Thanks for the compliments on the last chapter and we hope that you enjoy the next. (Let us know when you write your Squallphie…or if you need any help Beta-reading it!)

**x-cry: **If and when you draw your Squalphie picture, we'd love to see it! If you would like, please email it to us at and with your permission we can even add it to our site!

**SupaFireCross:** We hope you haven't 'died of longing'. o We're slow, and we're sorry for that.

**theMangaLibrarian: **You haven't played the game and you're reading. That's extremely flattering in a strange sort of way. How'd you stumble across this out of the plethora of stories on Mika: Your reviews never fail to make us smile, and for that, we think we love _you._ This goes out to all of our reviewers. Your feedback, whether negative or positive makes us strive to write and continue to write despite our crazy schedules! Thanks for everyone's support!

**BellaStarz: **Have we started a trend perhaps? That's cool. And if there isn't a Squalphie shrine already out there, then one needs to be made! Unfortunately we lack the time and experience to do something to that degree.

**A/N: **So sorry about the wait again, everyone. Our excuse hasn't changed much either. We apologize, once again. The very last part of the last semester of school seems to be the busiest time of the year. Once summer comes around updates should be more frequent though. And if we really buckle down and do our jobs, this story may even be completed by the end of this summer. (As sad as that is, it's true. There's probably…four…maybe five chapters until we're gonna wrap this baby up.) Enjoy chapter 12, everyone and don't forget to let us know what you think!

Chapter 12

"Now Selphie, remember, I am not teaching karate. I'm teaching you ca-ra-zay!" Seth said, moving around her. Selphie kept her fists up and watched the older man circle her. "You don't know when I'm going to come at you, so you need to be prepared."

"I'm ready for you," she panted. She was already out of breath for the day.

Seth moved in and kicked her in the shin. Immediately, she bent down and gasped in pain. "You have to be prepared," he repeated. "Criminals are criminals and they're not afraid to fight dirty. Therefore, you need to be just as prepared to fight dirty."

Selphie squinted her eyes. She got easily frustrated with him. "Oh, I'll fight dirty," she muttered and thrust upward with her knee, hoping to come in contact with the part she knew to be the most sensitive for all males.

Before she could make contact, Seth grabbed her hand and threw her back. "Good try, but keep this in mind…" his hands were up, a sign that she recognized as it was time to stop sparring. Selphie leaned back and reached for her water bottle, taking a big swig of the cool liquid.

"What you tried to do there was a good will attempt. You know very well that this area," he motioned to his groin, "Is very sensitive. But so do men, and men have been taught ever since they were little that that's the area that they want to protect. Therefore, you will have a harder time hitting your attacker there."

"Okay," she panted.

"Stand back up," he said, brushing some of the long silver hair from his brow. He reached down and helped her up. "Now, I'm going to teach you a new fighting stance. Go ahead and assume the one that you have been using."

Selphie hunched her shoulders and put her fists up.

"That's all wrong," Seth chuckled, shaking his head. "Okay, first of all, you need to relax your shoulders," he placed his hands on her shoulders and she relaxed them.

"Good, now punch me as hard as you can."

"But-"

"Just do it."

Shaking all doubt from her head, she did as he asked and punched him square in the chest.

Seth gasped and stepped back and Selphie did the same, clutching her hand. "Ouch!" she yelled, "Holy mother of Moombas!"

"You've got a strong punch," he laughed wrapping an arm around his chest. "But the point of this was to prove one thing; punching hurts both you and your opponent."

"Well what do you want me to do instead?"

"Fight with an open hand."

Selphie's jaw almost dropped. "You're telling me to slap them?"

"No! Not at all!"

"Then what?"

"Here, I'll show you." He took her by the hand and stood her in front of him so that there wasn't much more than a foot between them. "Your attacker has you backed up against a wall, let's say. You need him to back off; what do you do?"

Selphie shrugged.

"Yell at him; you tell him to back off. Scare him senseless. Make him think that you're _insane_. He _will_ back off."

"Yell at him?"

"That's right. Now, get me to back off of you."

"Back off!" she shouted.

"You're not scaring me," he announced smugly.

"You better get back!"

Seth shook his head. "Don't be afraid to use your hands; don't be afraid to try and fight off your attacker also!"

Selphie bit on her lip as she thought for a moment. "GET OFF OF ME YOU SCUMBAG!" she screamed, hitting the palm of her hand against his forehead.

Seth stumbled back, shook his head and laughed. "Good job!" He gave her a high five. "That was wonderful!" Still laughing and holding his head, he said, "Go ahead and take a water break; your boyfriend's been waiting outside anyway."

Swooping down to pick up her water bottle, Selphie ran outside and immediately pounced on Squall.

"Squall! Squall! Did you see me? Did you? I fought him off! I hit him in the forehead and I told him, 'BACK OFF OF ME!' and he did!"

"I saw," Squall chuckled. "You're doing good."

"Thanks!" Selphie beamed, washing down the very last of her water bottle. "I have to go back in for the rest of the lesson," she panted, running to the door again.

"All right, I'll get you some more water."

"Thanks! There's money in my purse that you can use."

"It's only one gil, I think I can manage."

"Don't be a butt; use my money!" she called as the door was shutting, "It's my water anyway!"

Squall waved a hand over his shoulder and with his hands shoved deep within his pockets, walked out of the small dojo for the pop machine that was just outside. The very air was frigid and snow covered every visible facet of the earth. His breath came out in milky white clouds of vapor. He dropped the coin into the slot and just as he was bending down to retrieve the water bottle, a noisy truck pulled into the parking lot behind him.

A strange sputtering noise came from the muffler, followed by a miniature cloud of black smoke. Squall watched in interest as the driver's side door swung open and out stepped a familiar face. "Hey, Squall! Whatcha doin' at Seth's dojo?" Zell asked, slipping into a large black coat.

"Waiting for Selphie to get done with her class," he replied, just as Zell leaned back into his truck.

When Zell reappeared, he had lots of equipment in tow. "I didn't know Selphie took classes here."

"Well, she does now. Do you need help carrying any of that?" Squall asked, when he saw the blond struggling to stand up straight with all of the workout equipment.

"No, will you open the door for me though?"

Squall opened the door for the dojo and Zell stumbled on in. He dropped all of the equipment in a pile next to Seth's desk, then sat down in a chair.

"So what's been up with you, man? Haven't really gotten a chance to talk to you lately."

"Not a lot."

Zell smiled, "Winter break is coming up soon! I can't wait!"

Squall grunted, "Do you have any plans?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be staying here in Balamb with my family and I'll be working full-time at the dojo."

"Oh," Squall sighed and sat down in a cushioned chair, looking at the floor.

"Why? Is there something wrong, man?"

"Naw, it's nothing."

Zell studied him momentarily, then shrugged. "Okay, whatever man. I know that there's something wrong, and if you won't tell me then I guess you just won't tell me."

Squall bit his lip and sighed. "It's just Laguna invited me up to the Presidential Palace for winter break, and I was really hoping to get someone to drag up there with me."

"Sorry, Squall. He's _your_ father; why don't you just go alone?"

The Commander averted his eyes to the carpet again; "It's too awkward."

Zell laughed, then promptly covered his mouth.

"What?" Squall asked, narrowing his eyes in irritation.

"Nothing…" Zell said, waving his hand as if he dismissed the question. But when Squall looked at him confusedly, he almost fell out of his chair in a fit of giggles.

"_What_?" Squall demanded, a bit louder this time.

"It's just…" Zell started, still laughing, "You will fight Ruby Dragons with little hesitation and walk straight into the Deep Sea Research Center without looking back, but you're afraid of going to Esthar for a few days to spend some time with your dad?"

Squall scowled at the blond and immediately the martial artist stopped. "I'm sorry; I just thought it was a bit ironic."

Squall sighed. "I knew it was a bad idea. I'll just call him and tell him that it doesn't work for me and that we should try it again another time."

"No, Squall, don't keep pushing it off. It's best to go ahead and do it."

"That's easy for you to say."

"I'm sorry man, but you're asking for last minute plans over the holiday season. If you want to get someone to come with you, you should try for someone who doesn't have a family to speak of."

It was silent between the two.

"That alone leaves you with three people," Zell started up again, "Seifer, Quistis and Selphie. Now, I imagine that Seifer and Renee will be spending the holidays together."

"Quistis always goes to the orphanage to visit Matron during break," Squall muttered.

"Leaving you with Selphie. I'm sure she won't mind the trip and let's face it, I definitely know that you would enjoy spending break with her more than anyone else at this moment."

"There's one problem…"

"Yes…?" Zell asked.

"People would have field day with all the rumors that could be spread around."

"Aw, come on, Squall. Who cares? I mean for once, do you have to really be so obsessed with what others think? Just go and have fun."

Squall opened his mouth to say something, but his thought was interrupted when he heard a cry of, "YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THAT, YOU ASSHOLE?"

Squall and Zell traded worried glances then ran into the exercise room, throwing the door open. Seth had Selphie in a full Nelson headlock and she was bent over awkwardly, trying to escape from it.

"What the hell are you doing!" Squall yelled.

"Squall, calm down buddy! It's part of the lesson," Zell said, trying to restrain the Commander but to no avail.

"Cool it, Sonny. I'm not hurting your girlfriend. I'm merely trying to teach her how to get out of various headlocks."

Squall relaxed slightly, but still folded his arms across his chest and continued to peer at them.

"Now, Selphie," Seth said, straightening her back up. "This is a very simple headlock to get out of, can you find a way out?"

Selphie grunted and struggled, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get out.

"Okay," Seth started up, trying to get her to stop her struggle, "there is a very easy way to get out of this lock, and in the process of getting out, you will also floor your opponent. Just remember, mind over matter."

"Yeah, I gotcha…" she breathed.

"Now what I want you to do is extend your arms over your head so that they are straight up."

Selphie did as he asked.

"Now grab the back of my head…"

Again she did as he asked. Squall might as well have been shaking all over with anger. "I don't like this…" he muttered under his breath.

"Well, personally, I'd rather Seth be doing it than a stranger with bad intentions."

"Now, bring all your weight straight down."

"Really?"

"Yes, really, go!"

"Okay…if you say so."

Just as he asked, she brought all of her weight directly down, slipping out of the headlock and bringing him down also.

Zell clapped and cheered. "Way to go, Selph!" he exclaimed.

Holding his back, Seth stood up. "Okay…that's all for this week's lesson…" he grunted. "I'm getting too old for this; I'm getting beat up."

Selphie wiped the sweat from her brow, turned to face Squall and when she saw that he had a new water bottle for her, immediately beamed at him. "Thanks!" she exclaimed, taking it from him.

Turning the bottle completely upside-down, she downed about half of it.

"Ready to go?" Squall asked her.

The younger SeeD shook her head. "Hold on," she panted. She straightened out her little gym shorts then took her hair out of the ponytail it had been in. She shook her head and scratched her scalp, throwing her hair all around. "Wow, it feels so good to have my hair out of that. My hair hurts from being up so long; has that ever happened to you?"

Squall chuckled upon holding the door open for her, "No, I can't say that I have."

"I'll see you next week Selphie, and we're going to work on your form a bit more and techniques to get out of other holds," Seth called after them.

"All right, see ya next week, Seth!" she waved goodbye.

While walking out of the dojo, Selphie stooped down to pick up her coat, but instead of putting it on, just walked outside as she was: running shorts and a tee-shirt. "I am so hot!" she declared standing out in the frigid weather, her arms extended as if welcoming all the cold air to her. "This feels glorious!" she announced in a singsong voice.

"Better get in the Garden car," Squall suggested, "It's below freezing out here."

With a sigh, she did as he asked. She climbed in through the passenger's side door and sat down, closing the door behind her. Squall got in the car as well, turned the keys in the ignition and began pulling out of the parking lot.

Immediately, he turned the heater on, trying to warm up the car. Even inside the car he could see his breath. "Are you crazy?" Selphie exclaimed, diving forward and trying to turn the air conditioner on.

"No, you are. It's twenty-five fucking degrees out there!"

"Watch your mouth, Mr. Leonhart or I might have to report you to the Headmaster!" she said, narrowing her eyes playfully.

"You've gotten more intimidating, Selph," he laughed, "But not intimidating enough."

"Oh really? I bet I can take you!" she said smiling.

"Really, now?" Squall replied smugly.

"Oh yeah, I can take you. When we get back to Garden, it's you and me."

"Okay, Sefie, whatever you say."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…start over sweetie, and slow down this time…" Quistis said holding her arms up, as if trying to calm the frantic Rinoa.

"It's not fair, Quisty! Zell made it sound as if I never try being nice to him, but again I tried, and again he failed to be a father."

"What happened?"

The dark haired girl pushed her long locks of obsidian hair out of her face and plopped down on the floor beside the Instructor's bed. "I was being nice, I swear!"

"That's not the question, sweetie…what happened?"

"He was talking on his cell phone almost the entire time. I couldn't get a word in inch-wise! It was as if he was doing his all to completely ignore me!"

"He was talking on his cell phone?"

"Yeah, about some military crap."

"Military Intelligence perhaps?"

"Well that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one," Rinoa muttered. "Anyway, I got so fed up with him talking on his cell phone, I started yelling at him. We got in another one of our world famous spats."

"Rinoa, you didn't…" Quistis gasped. "That didn't help your situation at all, I'm sure."

"No, but it made me feel better," the raven-head grumbled.

"Rinoa…" Quistis shook her head, "You lose your temper too quickly."

"No, wait a minute, get this: I managed to reach him somehow."

The blond Instructor widened her eyes. "What happened?"

"He tried to buy my forgiveness. You see, that's what crappy fathers do. They realize that they screwed up and instead of trying to fix the problem they decide, 'Hm, well maybe if I buy her this bracelet then everything will automatically be all right again.'"

Quistis continued to stare at Rinoa wide eyed as she threw a very intricate and expensive looking bracelet from her pocket and stomped on it. Mascara streaming down her porcelain doll face, she looked up at Quistis. By that point, Rinoa was crying so hard that her breathing was ragged, "I don't…want…a b-bracelet…" she sobbed, "I want…a f-f-father…"

Rinoa's fists were balled so tightly that she could feel her nails digging into her flesh. Quistis reached forward and hugged her. "You need to calm down. Have you told Zell about it?"

"N-no…" she continued to sob, "He doesn't like it wh-when I cry around him."

"That's the problem with guys…they're stupid. If you're in a relationship with him then he's obligated to sit and listen to you when you're upset, even if it's over stupid things. Not that I'm saying this is stupid…but jeez! The least he could do is listen to you…" The Instructor was suddenly interrupted by a loud knocking.

"It's open!" she yelled.

Sae threw open the door and stood in the doorframe panting. "The…the…!"

"Out with it, what's wrong?" Quistis asked, looking at her confusedly.

"The…the…"

"Spit it out!" Rinoa yelled.

Suddenly Arisu came running as well, not paying attention and looking behind her. She ran directly into Sae's back, throwing her forward into the bedroom, with Arisu on top of her.

"What's going on?" Quistis finally demanded.

"The…the!"

"WHAT?"

"THE T-REXAUR IS LOOSE!" both of the girls screamed at once.

"What?"

"We were training and SAE decided to leave the door open!"

"Don't pin the blame on me! If you hadn't distracted me with your stupid fish dance, then maybe I wouldn't have forgotten!"

"Fish dance?" Quistis whispered, shaking her head. She wasn't even going to ask this time around.

"Call the military or something! T-Rexaur is running rampant around Garden!"

"Girls," Rinoa said, "This is a mercenary school, I'm pretty sure someone can handle it."

Suddenly a roar resonated from right outside the bedroom door. Quistis' eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she desperately began to feel around for her whip. "Come on Rin! Let's take it on!" she said, her heart racing.

Unanimously, Sae and Arisu looked at each other, then back at the older two girls. "Uh, wait, don't be so hasty!" Sae stuttered, reaching in front of her to grab the blond Instructor's ankle.

Quistis wrestled her way out of Sae's grasp and just as she was getting ready to jump into the hallway, Seifer jumped out from behind the door with a mask on, and roared again. The Instructor stumbled backward and screamed, lashing the whip forward so that it smacked him on the leg.

"Ouch! Shit, Quistis! Can't you take a joke?"

"A joke? A JOKE?" the Instructor roared with an intensity it would've given the real T-Rexaur a run for its money. "You almost gave me a heart attack. Would it have been funny after I collapsed of a heart failure?"

"Are you kidding, Quistis?" Seifer grimaced, "If a Malboro can't put you down what makes you think that me jumping around in a Halloween mask would?"

Quistis glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. "Ass," she muttered, then she kicked Sae and Arisu out the door, and slammed it behind her. She sighed, shook her head and sat down on the floor.

"Are you all right?" Rinoa asked.

"Yeah, it's just my heart…It's a good thing…I don't need it…" Quistis panted.

"Let's do something! I'm bored!" Selphie complained, rolling over on Squall's bed and resting her chin in her hands. Squall was lying on his floor, his arms folded under his head.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know…" she muttered, "what do you want to do?"

Squall chuckled and shook his head. "In all honesty I'd rather stay here. I don't want to go back into town."

Selphie glared at him playfully and rolled on to her back again and stared at the ceiling. "You're no fun," she complained. "There's nothing to do in Garden! You must be crazy! You must be trying to drive _me _crazy."

Before Squall could reply with, 'too late', Selphie shot him a look and said, "Don't say anything."

"I wasn't going to," he lied.

"Go on, name two things that are fun to do in Garden. I dare ya!" she yelled, sitting up straight and pointing an accusing finger at the Commander.

"Well…there's always training."

"Yuck!" she crinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out.

"Studying…"

"You have got to be kidding me," she groaned. "I got my fill of studying after working with Quistis. I shall never again study for another test in my life!" she declared loudly, throwing a fist into the air.

"Okay, then you're right, there's nothing to do here."

"Awww!" she squealed. "Then let's goooo! I wanna do something!"

"Naw," he shook his head and remained lying on the floor. He hadn't done so much as move a muscle since they had gotten back from her training.

"But I'm bored."

"There's no law that states you have to be doing something every millisecond of the day. What're you going to do? Implode if you sit still too long?"

"Maybe, I've never tried it long enough to find out."

"Whatever," Squall groaned, draping an arm over his eyes.

"Come oooon, Squall…" she complained. "Let's do something!"

"You still haven't supplied any ideas as to what we could d-" he started, but before he was able to finish his last word, Selphie had jumped on his stomach and was holding his arms down by his ears. "What the f-?" the last word he stopped in the nick of time.

"You've had quite the mouth today, Commander Leonhart," Selphie laughed

"What're you doing?"

"I just pinned you Commander," she beamed. "Not many people can say that they've had that privilege."

Squall smiled back at her, catching her off-guard, then overpowered her pitiful pinning technique by lifting his arms, thus pushing her back. She fell off of his stomach and began crawling away from him, but he grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back.

"You said that you thought you could take me," he reminded her.

"Oh…did I?" she asked innocently, pretending as if she couldn't remember.

"You're going to play stupid, huh?" Squall shrugged and let go of her ankle. "That's fine I suppose, if you're really that afraid that you'll lose." Squall turned around and became fixated on the television.

It was then that Selphie saw her opportunity, her prime chance to pounce and take the unsuspecting Commander by surprise. With an undignified 'Huah!' she heaved herself onto his back.

However, Squall didn't budge. As a matter of fact, it was as if Selphie had just run face first into a rock. The force of the impact threw her back down on her back again, and Squall merely turned around to show off that awkward half smile of his.

"If I would have known you were going to run at me I would've let you knock me over."

Selphie stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't need any of your sympathy!" she then folded her arms stubbornly and turned her nose up. Squall shrugged and turned back around.

With a devious grin Selphie ran at him again, this time while his attention was back with the local Balamb News. This time she accomplished her goal and floored the Commander.

Selphie laughed triumphantly, "I win!" she yelled, lifting her legs off the ground in glee. Squall didn't say anything, but shook his head. She narrowed her eyes and leaned in, "Don't say that you 'let me' take you down."

"I won't say a thing."

"Good," she smiled, folding her arms in mock victory.

"But I have a way of getting you off…" he said, in an 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' manner.

"Oh yeah! Just try it, buster! I won't be moved!"

"How are you going to stop me?" Squall cooed.

Selphie looked at him in a confused manner. She had no idea what he was trying, but decided as his arms were his strongest assets, that she would try to pin them down. Therefore she did. As soon as this was accomplished Squall grabbed hold of her hands and rolled so that they switched positions. Now it was Selphie lying on the floor.

"Ugh! Get off of me! You're _heavy! _You know you could stand to lose a few pounds," she grunted, trying to push him off of her but to no avail.

"It's solid muscle," he chided.

Selphie glared up at him, then with a smug face shrugged her shoulders (which was rather difficult, as now it was he who had her arms pinned to the ground). "That's alright. _I _have a plan now."

"Oh yeah?" he replied arrogantly. He leaned down and peered directly into her deep emerald eyes. "I'd like to see you try," he smiled again, now more playfully.

Now Selphie was at a loss. It was true she had said that hoping to 'intimidate' him into getting off, however him being the 'almighty fearless Commander' of the Balamb Garden, it seemed to her that very little would ever intimidate him.

Then she got a plan. It was crazy, and a bit far-fetched, but it just might work.

"Did you give u-?"

Selphie closed her eyes and before she lost her nerve, and before Squall was able to finish his sentence she managed to raise her neck just enough for her lips to press firmly against his.

The motion took the Commander completely off guard. His eyes widened and he would've fallen completely over backwards when he realized that _this _was her so-called 'plan'. She had intended on startling him enough that he would have just backed off, therefore what better counterstrike than to continue with it?

Squall closed his eyes and returned the kiss.

This time Selphie widened her eyes in surprise. She hadn't expected _this _to happen, though now that it was happening she wasn't going to back down. It was true that for a very long time, this was what she had wanted.

She rested her head against the carpeted floor again, and Squall followed her down, continuing to kiss her all the way.

All the nerves in her brain seemed to explode at that moment and she lost track of time, at least until the door creaked open. Immediately Squall's head snapped up. Standing in the doorway was Zell. The martial artist's face and ears flushed bright red and he said, "I thought I heard something crash and I came in to see if you were okay…but um…I can see you're busy…so um…yeah…I'm sorry…I'm embarrassed…I'll leave you two alone now…"

Very quickly, the blond jumped out of the room and closed the door rather hurriedly behind him, as if whatever he'd seen truly frightened him. After he was gone it was Selphie's turn to turn a violent red. "You ruined my plan!" she exclaimed jokingly at him, "You were supposed to turn tail and flee!"

Squall was still looking angrily at the door and whether he realized it or not he still held her hands to the floor with his. All she could do was wiggle her fingers to make sure that there was still blood flowing to them.

"Um, Squall?" she asked, trying to catch his eye. The Commander for some reason or another was off in La-La Land and she was starting to doubt whether or not it was possible for him to be summoned back to Garden.

Finally he looked back at her, then realizing he still had her pinned, apologized and stood up.

"Are you okay?" she asked as he walked back to his bed and sat down, resting his head in his hands.

"Yeah."

She also stood up and walked to the bed to sit next to him. Selphie's heart was still pounding from the kiss and she was finding it extremely difficult to act 'naturally'. "Do you have something on your mind?" she asked as calmly as she could. He said nothing, thus giving her the answer. "Tell me. I won't bite, I promise."

However, either the Commander was too lost in his train of thought to hear her, or he was completely ignoring her all together. He almost seemed as if he were concentrating very hard on a specific spot on the carpet. The silence hung heavily in the air around Selphie and she could no longer take it.

"What's wrong?" she repeated, her voice dropping from its normally cheery tone to one more serious and mature.

He didn't want to tell her what he had been thinking. "Nothing," he lied, looking at the floor.

"Has anyone told you how horrible of a liar you are?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said in a tone that she knew basically meant, 'drop it'.

She sighed and slid off the bed. "Okay, I'm going back to my dorm. I have to start studying for my next counseling lesson."

Selphie had gotten to the door and was just preparing to open it when Squall blurted out, "Do you have any plans for holiday break?"

She paused before opening the door, then decided against it. She turned to look at him. He was fully attentive now, and staring directly at her. "I haven't really thought about it. I was originally planning on going to Trabia to visit friends, but I won't have the money in time to do that."

Squall nodded but didn't say anything.

"How about you?"

He cleared his throat and started, sounding very awkward, "Well, Laguna wants me to go to Esthar over the break."

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Selphie exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "You'll finally get to spend some time with your father! And Sis! You'll have a wonderful time! I'm sure of it!"

"I'm not going."

Selphie's smile immediately dropped and she looked at the floor. "Why not?" she finally asked after a length of time.

"I don't want to be alone around him. It's too awkward. I wouldn't know how to handle myself. He might as well be royalty and I've been brought up as a mercenary. Not necessarily the happy family one would picture."

"Can't you find someone to go with you? Maybe you could ask Zell!"

"He has family that he's going to spend time with over break. It's last minute notice and everyone has plans."

"So…" she started slowly, "You're saying you won't go unless you have someone to go with you." Squall didn't answer, and the younger SeeD merely studied him for a few moments before smiling as warmly as she could. "I'll go with you. If that's okay with you, that is."

He looked at her and shook his head. "Don't change your plans. Go on to Trabia to visit your friends. I can always spend the holidays with him next year."

"He might not be here next year," she smiled, "You have to enjoy what time you do have with him. And don't worry about it, I can to go Trabia anytime. Besides, I don't have the money and it's not everyday one receives an invitation to stay at the Presidential Palace in Esthar."

"You're sure it's okay?"

"Of course! I'm really looking forward to it!"

The bed springs groaned as he stood up.

Out of all the things that were running through his head, all Squall could get out was a, "Thanks, Selph…"

"No problem, but now I really have to go. I need to find Quistis and ask her something…"

She opened the door to leave but was stopped by two hands on her each of her shoulders. Her forehead creased in confusion as they turned her back into his room. She opened her mouth to ask if there was something wrong when Squall's mouth pressed up against hers again, this time taking _her _by surprise.

After breaking apart again, each looked at the other in slight embarrassment. "Okay…I need to go find Quistis…" Selphie repeated, her cheeks glowing a bright pink.

Squall nodded and let go of her shoulders.

Once she heard Squall's door close, she looked quickly around the area before jumping in the air with a shout of, "Booyaka! What a kiss!"

"Hey you! Student number 31285756! What are you doing in the boy's dorms?" she heard from behind her. Her eyes bugged out and she darted down the hall as fast as she could, as if running away from the Garden faculty (even though they already knew her identity) could get her out of trouble. "Hey! Wait up!" she heard them call from behind her.

Whatever faculty member was behind her was sure fast, because she could hear them catching up to her quickly. Selphie was running out of options quickly, as well as breath. If she stopped running, they'd catch her, but she couldn't find any nooks or crannies to dodge into either.

She reached the end of the hall and just as she was getting ready to round a corner she felt two bodies jump onto her back and drag her down, despite her attempts to keep going.

Insane giggling came from on top of her and immediately she knew who had befuddled her plans. "Gotcha!" Sae yelled triumphantly.

"Bet you didn't expect us to be hiding there, didja?" Arisu laughed.

"Guys! No! This isn't a good time!"

"What?" they asked in unison.

"You've ignored us for two days straight!" Sae whined.

"Yeah, you're no fun anymore!"

"No, guys, that's not it!" Selphie continued desperately, trying to claw her way out from under the two girls. "The faculty is after me!"

"What?"

"No they're not!"

"Uh huh! They caught me in the boys' dorms!"

Sae gasped melodramatically, "Selphie! What were you doing there?"

"Let me go!"

"Calm down!" Arisu laughed, "The faculty isn't after you."

"YES THEY ARE!" Selphie yelled. "I CAN PROVE IT! LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

The two girls looked behind them.

"Oh, hi, Seifer!" Sae beamed. "Did you scare Selphie?"

Selphie looked around, then pushed the unsuspecting Sae and Arisu, rather violently, off of her. She then stood up to point an accusing finger at the towering blond standing behind them laughing. "You…! You…! You…MEANIE!" she yelled, then stomped off.

"Where are you going?" the girls called after her.

"I need to find Quistis!"

She heard running behind her again, and this time turned around so fast that it would've given the normal person whiplash. Seifer was running to catch up to her.

"Sorry, Selph," he laughed when he finally reached her.

"Yeah, you better be, bub," she muttered.

"But I couldn't help but overhear your exclamation."

All color drained from Selphie's face and she stopped, causing Seifer to almost bowl her over.

"So…Leonhart kissed ya, did he?" he asked, laughing heartily.

"Shhh!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down, hitting him on the shoulder. "Keep quiet!"

"But why? It's cute!"

"Cute is not a word that should come out of a man of your stature!" she exclaimed.

Seifer laughed even harder. "By the way, Quistis is in her dorm since you're looking for her." The blond then turned around to walk, when Selphie thought of something.

"What were _you _doing in the _girls'_ dorms?"

"That's not your business," he said coolly, with his characteristic smirk.

"Grrrr!" she yelled, stamping her feet, "Sometimes I just want to smack that smug little smile off of your face, Seifer!"

"You and every other person in this building," he said, his voice getting fainter as he continued his progression away.

She glared after him and yelled, "Your day is coming, Seifer!"

In the distance she heard him laugh, but still she smiled triumphantly and shoved her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. It wasn't five minutes later that she arrived at Quistis' dorm. She jumped in with her arms outstretched and announced in a sing-song voice, "Quisty! I need to talk to you!"

She was met with two confused looks. She blushed upon realizing that Rinoa had been visiting Quistis at the same time.

Rinoa stood up in one graceful and fluid motion, then smiled politely at Selphie. "That's okay Quisty, thanks for letting me rant for a while." And with that she left the room, her light blue jacket flowing behind her.

Quistis watched her leave, then turned to Selphie looking confused once again. "I thought you two made up?" she asked.

"We did…" Selphie said slowly. "It's going to sound strange, but all is forgiven, it's just…well…it's a bit awkward talking to each other now."

"You two need to get over it, you were best friends!" the instructor exclaimed.

"It's not like I haven't been trying," Selphie said defensively. "Because I have!"

The Instructor rolled her eyes and tucked some of her blond hair behind her ear. "As long as you realize I'm not going to play the middle man here…"

"I know. I figure things will work themselves out…"

"Not if you both don't come to a mutual realization that this argument is horribly STUPID."

Selphie looked at her feet, "What do you expect me to do that I haven't already done? I've apologized, I've told her my side of the story. We had a wonderful conversation the day of my A Rank exam…after I passed out. But we haven't really talked since then."

Quistis maintained the same frustrated look, but instead of reprimanding the younger SeeD anymore she sighed, causing her shoulders to droop. "What'd you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh yeah! I was wondering…" Selphie clasped her hands together and looked at Quistis with the biggest, most pathetic puppy dog eyes that she could muster, "Couldyougivemedrivinglessons?" she asked, super fast.

Quistis' eyes almost bugged completely out of her head, "What?"

"Please? Please, please, please, please, pleeeeaaaassseee?" Selphie pleaded, her hands still clasped together as if praying for the answer 'yes'. "I feel like I'm always mooching rides off of you and Squall, and I'm old enough to get my license…"

"You want me to give you driving lessons?"

"Well, I realize you're a crazy driver and all, but still you've never wrecked. And not only that…you're probably the only person that's crazy enough to be willing to do it!"

The blond Instructor couldn't help but laugh at that statement.

"Okay, it's a deal, but when do you think we should start?"

"As soon as possible!"

"It's all icy outside!"

"All the more practice for me!"

Quistis looked as if she was about ready to pass out at the thought of Selphie learning how to drive in snow and ice.

"Will you? Please?" Selphie asked again.

"I guess."

"Yes!" Selphie jabbed a victorious punch into the air. "When's my first lesson?" she asked excitedly.

"As soon as I call my insurance company," Quistis said, slinking back down onto her bed and picking up the phone.

Less than an hour later, Quistis found herself buckled into the passenger's side of one of the Garden vehicles. She had a deathgrip on what she had begun to call the 'Oh Shit' handle, suspended above her. However, the sad thing about the entire situation was that Selphie hadn't even started the car yet.

Her heart pounding at an extreme speed, and breathing quite heavily, Quistis said rather shakily, "Okay, Selphie. I want to warn you right now, I have heart problems. The doctor said that stress and tension can trigger some bad things…and I am stressed and tense right now."

"What are you talking about, Quisty? You're healthy as a horse!" Selphie laughed as she grasped the key.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT KEY UNTIL I TELL YOU TO!" Quistis screamed, jumping forward like a cat ready to strike a mouse.

Startled, Selphie took her hands away from the ignition and held them by her head as if a policeman had ordered her to 'Stick 'em up!'

Taking a long, shuddering sigh, Quistis closed her eyes to find her happy place and continued to talk, "I want you to stay calm…Relax. Feel the good chi rushing into your body. Can you feel it?"

"Good chi? Isn't that Feng-Shui?"

"Don't question me!"

"Yes ma'am!" Selphie said loudly, imitating one who had just been given orders by a drill sergeant.

"Like I said…" Quistis started again, "Just relax. Don't think about the fact that behind the wheel of this car you are a potential killer… Don't think about the fact that just sneezing could cause you to steer completely off the road and cause you to wrap your car around a light pole…"

Selphie looked over at her friend to see that she was sweating and her eyes were clenched shut. "Are you relaxed now?" Quistis asked through gritted teeth.

"Quisty…" Selphie chuckled. "You're the one gripping that handle as if it was your lifeline."

"That's what I said! Just relax!"

Selphie tried to stifle her laughter. Quistis was on the verge of losing it.

"I'm relaxed."

"Okay, good now…what do you first do before starting the car?"

"Um…" Selphie looked both ways, then back at Quistis. "I don't know…"

"YOU DON'T KNOW?" the blond almost screamed. "That's it! Get me out of this car!"

"No! Quisty, please! I need my license."

"Okay, do you have a pen? You should be taking notes!"

"I'll make some mental notes."

"How come that doesn't make me feel any better?" Quistis asked, rubbing her temples. She looked at Selphie worriedly, then wiped the sweat off of her brow and said. "First, you adjust your seat until you can comfortably sit and reach the pedals."

"Okay! Got it!" the younger SeeD said, doing as Quistis asked.

"Check your mirrors."

"Check!"

"Cell phone in case of a freak accident?"

"I don't have a cell phone…"

"I guess we can't resume lessons until you do!" she said, unbuckling her seatbelt and standing up.

"Quistis…" Selphie said, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Okay," the Instructor said, sitting back down. "It's a Garden car, you should have flares and a spare tire…"

"Right."

"Do you have your permit so that you can show the nice policeman when he stops you for violating traffic laws?"

"When? How come it's not 'if'?"

"Don't question my logic!" Quistis yelled again.

"Make sure you check the backseat so that there aren't any rapists, wanted murderers, etc."

"Now you're just being silly, let's go Quistis….aren't you going to buckle your seatbelt and lock your door?"

"Are you insane? I might decide that I want to abandon car in a hurry." Taking a deep breath, she said, "Okay, start the engine."

Selphie turned the key and the car began to purr. "Gently step on the accelerator…"

Selphie did as she was told, but with a bit too much force and the car jolted forward.

Quistis almost lost it at that very second. "Okay, okay, okay…" she repeated, "I'll be fine, I'll be fine…"

Selphie was now driving in circles around the Balamb parking lot that had a thin blanket of snow covering the black asphalt. "Okay, Selph…I want you to carefully, CAREFULLY, turn onto the road."

Selphie turned the car onto the small road the led to the Balamb Garden parking lot and was driving along, doing quite well in her own mind, when all of a sudden Quistis shrieked, "You're too close to the wrong side of the road!"

Panic-stricken, Selphie jerked the steering wheel to the right.

"Hyne, Quisty! If anyone causes us to wreck, it's going to be you!"

"We're all tensed up now. Selphie, sweetheart, I want you to pull over and relax."

"I am relaxed! You're the one who's flipping out!" Selphie yelled, continuing forward.

"I SAID PULL OVER!" Quistis grabbed the steering wheel and turned it until the car was parked along the shoulder of the road.

Selphie was staring wide eyed at the crazed Instructor, as if debating whether or not the woman had finally lost her mind.

Quistis spent about five minutes breathing slowly in and out, gripping her heart as if thinking if she pressed down on it, then it might stop beating so fast. "Just remember, that any idiot can drive, Selphie. So when you're driving along, you need to be relaxed and you need to think about the road. Just move along and don't even think about that drunk driver just over the hill that could smash into you at any moment. Are you ready to start again?"

"I'm not so sure anymore…"

"You'll be fine," the blond insisted, grabbing a hold of her 'Oh Shit' handle once again. "Now slowly…SLOWLY!"

"But…"

"If someone else wants to go over fifteen miles per hour, let them pass, by all means! The Balamb graveyard is full of people who passed."

"Quistis…"

"You're stopping…why are you stopping?"

"Quistis…"

"WHY ARE YOU STOPPING?"

"There's a stop sign."

"Okay, good! Good eyes!" Quistis said breathlessly as she covered her chest. "I saw that coming, I was just testing you."

Rinoa walked into the Quad and sat on one of the many stone benches. She tucked her legs up under her chin and hugged her knees against her chest, making herself look very much like a helpless child. Though at this point in time that's exactly what she felt like.

There was a steady bustle as students walked past her to their classes, taking little notice of her. It wasn't as if it was something she wasn't used to. As a matter of fact, the fact that everyone seemed to ignore her didn't bother her at all, only when she saw a very flustered Quistis and Selphie rush past her did her heart sink. It wouldn't have bothered her had they really not seen her, but she saw Selphie turn around and look at her, making eye contact. It looked as if Selphie truly wanted to say something, but instead of doing anything, she continued to walk off with the distracted Instructor.

Shaking away tears that so desperately wanted to fall, Rinoa merely sat on the cold bench, looking through her tangled black hair at the lone tree standing proud in the center of the Quad.

"Heeeey," she heard a quiet, yet wonderfully familiar voice say, "What's up?"

She hurriedly tried to dry her eyes without Zell seeing, but it was too late and he knew there was something wrong.

"Is it about the General?" he sighed, taking a seat next to her.

Rinoa said nothing; she couldn't bring herself to. The fact that he was sincerely asking her what was wrong, mixed in with the reason why, caused her to burst into heavier tears. She turned around and gripped Zell's red vest, crying into his chest as the blond martial artist stroked her hair.

"Quistis told me all about it," he murmured softly into her ear, "And I'm sorry…I was wrong. I didn't want you to get hurt by this…I just wanted you to try. Nothing good comes out of doing nothing."

"Zell…" Rinoa said shakily, "He's always been that way. You have no idea how many times I tried to reach out to him."

"Maybe someday he'll come to his senses and reach out to _you_."

"I'm not interested anymore," she said stubbornly, through gritted teeth. "I wanted him for eighteen years, then all of a sudden when I decide that it's pointless, he's going to want me as a daughter?" She pulled away from Zell, wiping her eyes in the process. "He can die a bitter and lonely man for all I care," she declared.

"Rinoa…" Zell sighed dropping his arms.

She then sat up completely straight and folded her arms across her chest in anger. "It's no worse than what he deserves."

"I'm not saying that's untrue, I just thought you were better than that," Zell muttered, standing up.

Rinoa opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn't find the right words fast enough and before she knew it, Zell had disappeared into the mass of students.

The dark haired girl stood up as well and angrily stomped away from the Quad. When she felt that no one else could understand she went to man's best friend. Angelo had been her best friend for five years, and Rinoa had never known anyone to be betrayed by their own dog.

Selphie had indeed made it back to Garden in one piece, as well as her room. However, Quistis' shrieks of pure terror and fright were imprinted permanently into her brain. The young SeeD collapsed face-first into her bed. For the first time in her life she felt as if she could just fall asleep and never wake up again.

Over in the corner Selphie heard Rocks whine. "What, Puppy?" she muttered.

She felt the golden retriever jump up onto the bed next to her and put his head on her back. "Are you going to accuse me of ignoring you too?" Selphie chuckled.

Rocks lifted his eyebrows to form that look that meant, 'Don't you love me anymore?' Selphie laughed and rolled onto her back.

"I get it, so you're going to guilt me?"

Rocks barked, jumped off the bed and then stared at her expectantly. "Okay, okay," she grunted, "I'm getting up," she threw her legs over the side of the bed. "Rocks, go get your woobie!" In a flash of gold the dog ran to the other side of the room and came back with his favorite rope toy.

Selphie smirked and attached the leash to his collar, then opened the door and allowed Rocks to walk her down the hall.

The dog literally dragged her all the way to the Training Center. Upon entering the training facility, Selphie undid Rocks' leash and he immediately ran into a group of Grats, barking and sending them running in all directions. Selphie threw Rocks' rope toy and while he was busy chasing it, she grasped her nunchaku and did something she hadn't done in a long time…actually train in combat against the Garden monsters.

"Hey, Selph!" she heard a voice call from behind her after she gathered the spoils from a dead Grat.

Selphie turned around to find Xu running toward her.

"I haven't seen you train in here for a while!" Xu smiled once she finally got to her.

"I've been busy."

"Want to partner up? We can go for the bigger and badder monsters that way."

"Sure," Selphie said pocketing the spoils into a small knapsack she carried with her. "Rocks!" she shouted and made some kissing noises. The dog looked up from the hole he was sniffing in and looked at her excitedly, "Over here!"

Immediately Rocks followed after the two women.

Together Xu and Selphie ventured into the more advanced section of the Training Center.

Before too long, Rocks was distracted with another helpless Grat and the two girls had engaged in battle with a T-Rexaur.

"I haven't trained in so long…" Selphie complained as she cast a Blizzaga spell on the gargantuan dinosaur. "My compatibility with my GFs isn't at 100 anymore."

"They couldn't be too far off though…could they? They don't seem that slow."

"I need to start training more often…" she panted, shaking her head. "I've just been too busy."

"The Training Center isn't the best place to train. If you seriously want to train and get something accomplished you're going to have to get out of this flying contraption and into the wild."

"I don't have the time to just go out into the wild to train," Selphie laughed.

"You get a week of paid vacation as an A-Rank, don't you?" Xu asked.

Selphie thought for a moment, and said, "You know what? I don't know, I'll have to ask Squall."

"That might be something fun for you to do," the obsidian haired SeeD smiled, "Go camping and training. And get paid for it too!"

"That's going to have to wait for summer," Selphie laughed. "It's a bit too cold to just go camping now."

It wasn't much longer until the giant monster fell and they split the spoils between them. Selphie wiped her brow and sat down in the grass to catch her breath. Xu did the same.

Upon seeing his master take a break, Rocks ran to the two stationary girls and began planting nonstop kisses on their cheeks.

"Eww…Rocks…get off," Selphie laughed. "I feel gross enough as it is!" She sat up and wiped all the doggy slobber and sweat from her face. "I think I'm done for the night, Xu," Selphie concluded, steadily coming to her feet. "I need a shower."

Selphie reattached the leash to Rocks' collar and walked out of the training center. "I'm pretty sure I look like a train wreck," she muttered under her breath, "And I probably smell even worse than that."

On her walk back to her dorm, as she was thinking just how much she needed a shower, she managed to run into Nida. "Hey Selph, whatcha up to?"

"Don't talk to me! I'm concentrating!"

"On what?" he laughed.

"Not smelling myself."

"Training?" he asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Wild guess," he smiled broadly. "Hey, I won't keep you long. I was just wondering if you had any plans March twenty fourth?"

Selphie thought about it for a while. "That's a while away…what day is it?"

"It's a Monday."

"Why? What's going on?"

"I'm putting together a benefit concert…"

"For what?"

"Hey, you're interrupting me," he laughed. " It's to raise money for medical research. I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to play guitar as one of the acts."

Selphie smiled really big. "I haven't played the guitar in so long though…" she laughed.

"Still, it's never too late to pick it back up, is it?"

"No, I guess not."

"And it's a good cause…"

"Yes, it's a really good cause." Selphie paused for a moment as she thought. "No problem at all, Nida. I'll make sure that I have nothing to do that night."

"Okay, I'll give you more details later. For now I'll let you shower."

"Alrighty, bye Nida." This time she began running for the girls' dorms.

It wasn't very long before she reached her room. She let Rocks off of the leash and the dog ran to the corner of the room and curled into a ball. Selphie however, immediately ran for her bathroom.

She took what seemed to her to be the longest shower she'd ever taken, then got out, wrapped her pink fuzzy robe around her and sat on her bed. She looked over at her abandoned acoustic guitar sitting all alone on the other side of the room. Rocks looked between his master and the object of her attention with confusion.

Selphie looked apologetically at Rocks and walked across the room to pick up the guitar. There was a fine layer of dust on it from lack of usage. Smiling to herself she blew off the dust and sat on the floor and tuned the instrument. When she had accomplished that feat, she took the guitar in hand and sat on a stool in the center of the room. She tucked one leg under her and wrapped the other around the leg of the stool and plucked awkwardly at the strings until she got used to them again.

Before long she was strumming chords and singing along, Rocks staring at her all the while. She had some ideas for some songs she could write, all she had to do was put them to paper.

Sorry this chapter kind of jumped around a bit, but it's setting into place a few future events. We tried to include as much humor as possible. It's hard to go a while without writing and all of a sudden get back into the swing of it. I don't feel as if this is the best that we can do, but I'm hoping to produce better chapters in the near future. But oh well. Qué será, será. Right?

(We re-posted to add in some breaks between scene jumps. We originally put spaces between them, but once it was uploaded they disappeared. Sorry about that everyone!)

Please leave a review!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Selphie awoke bright and early for two reasons. First, her alarm's monotone was beeping loudly, and second, the moment Rocks noticed her stirring from her sleep, he jumped onto her bed and began planting slobbery kisses on every bit of her skin not covered by blankets. Normally, she would have hit the snooze button five more times and covered her face with a pillow to keep from really having to get out of bed, but she had hardly been able to sleep during the previous night anyway. "Today's the day!" she smiled, patting Rocks. He jumped off of the bed and ran over to what had previously been his corner — it was now stacked with an impressive pile of luggage — and stretched dramatically.

Upon standing, Selphie stretched herself and trudged into the bathroom, patting Rocks' head again as she passed. "You're coming this time, boy!" she said, ruffling his ears. After taking a quick shower and brushing her teeth, she threw on a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. For a trip as long as this one, comfort was going to be key.

Rocks kept peering around the bathroom door expectantly. With a laugh, she grabbed his leash. His ears perked up and he stood up a little straighter as she clipped the leash onto his collar. As the two walked to the door, Rocks pulled slightly on the leash in his eagerness to do his morning business, but upon opening the door, Selphie just tied his leash around a stone column. "Stay here, I'll be right back!" she said, pointing at his nose. She ran back inside her dorm and emerged again, this time dragging all of her luggage behind her.

"So heavy …" she grunted as she struggled down the hall with the bags. Luckily, just outside of the ladies' dorms, she ran into Zell. From the smell of dirt and sweat, she guessed he'd just finished some early morning training.

"Well Hyne, Selphie. You'll only be gone a week, but with this much baggage you could be traveling around the world!" he laughed.

"Squall told me to whittle it down to just the basics, so I did!" she said, matter-of-factly.

"And … you still have this much?"

"It is all necessary!" she declared, with a smile on her face.

"Well, in that case, I'll help you out then," he said, seemingly confused at what Selphie's interpretation of necessary meant. He bent down and picked up two of her suitcases, leaving her with the rolling one and a duffel bag. "Where are we going with these?" he asked.

"The entrance. The Garden car is supposed to be waiting up there for me."

"Did you hear about the ice storm last night?"

"What ice storm?" she asked, her voice suddenly serious.

"It hit Balamb at about three o'clock this morning," he explained, "and everything is covered in ice, so it's really slick."

"Oh man," Selphie groaned, "Squall parked the car up front last night so he wouldn't have to do it early this morning."

Zell laughed and said, "Well, you're going to have fun getting into it, that's for sure!"

Upon exiting the building, Selphie saw that Zell was not exaggerating. Everything was coated in a thin layer of ice, making the world seem as if it were carved out of crystal. The two friends slipped and slid all the way to the parked car, where Selphie gasped in horror, "Oh no! It's a car-cicle!"

Zell laughed again, glanced at his watch, then did a double-take. "Aw, crap. I'm sorry, Selph," he apologized, sitting her luggage down. "I wish I could help you out, but I have to get into town to help Seth out with the dojo."

"That's okay, I think I can manage," she sighed as she looked at the frozen car. Zell waved goodbye then walked off, breathing into his hands and rubbing them together frantically. Selphie looked back at the vehicle and pressed her face against the window. The ice distorted the view of the interior, but she could luckily she could make out enough to see that the doors were unlocked.

Looking back at the car, Selphie pointed a threatening finger at it. "You _will_open!" she told the trunk. As hard as she could, she drove her elbow into the trunk door. The ice splintered into a spiderweb of shards. Little by little, chunks of ice fell to the ground. She continued to work until she had finally uncovered the door handle. Triumphantly, she grasped the now-freed handle, but no matter how hard she pulled the door was still iced shut. Laughing at her own feeble attempts, Selphie put her boot against the side of the door for support and continued to pry and struggle.

Slowly, she could ear the ice begin to crack and give way. Surprised at her own strength, she continued to pull harder, grunting as she did so.

"Selphie, what are you doing?" she heard a familiar voice drone behind her.

"Squall! Where've you been? This is your job, not mi —" Selphie started to say, but before she could to finish her sentence, the ice broke off of the door in one giant sheet and it swung open, throwing her off balance. For a few seconds, Selphie appeared to be performing some sort of strange dance on the ice as she desperately tried to regain her balance. Squall reached forward in an attempt to catch her before she fell, but her erratic flailing, combined with the extra weight, caused him to slip as well. Before long, the two landed on the ground together with a sickening "thud" and a prominent "riiiiiip."

"Owie!" Selphie cried, rubbing her bottom and standing up very carefully. Squall stood up as well, also minding his footing. He felt around his backside, and his face flushed red immediately. "Did you —?" she started, but the Commander had already spun around trying to examine the rip in his jeans.

"How bad is it?" he asked, when he finally determined he would be unable to see for himself.

Selphie, slightly embarrassed about staring, replied, "It ripped right under the pocket." She paused for a moment. "It's not _that_noticeable," she lied, examining Squall's boxers, which appeared to be covered in chocobos. She decided not to inform him she had noticed this, but instead began to limp back into Garden.

"Hey, where are you going?" he called after her.

"I'm going to let you handle the rest," she yelled over her shoulder. "I got one of the doors open, so I've done my good deed for the day. Besides, I need to get my dog, so be a gentleman and load my luggage!"

Squall watched her retreating figure until it finally disappeared into Garden. He tiredly ran his hand through his dark hair, and, with a smirk, began loading their combined luggage into the back of the Garden car. By the time Selphie returned with the ever-enthusiastic Rocks, Squall was sitting in the car waiting for them.

"How'd you get it open?" she breathed in amazement.

"I started the car, turned on the heater, and waited."

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms dramatically, "Well, only because I did the hard work of getting one door open for you!"

"And I thank you for it," he said quietly.

She climbed into the passenger seat and was pleased to find that the car was very warm inside. Rocks was happy too. He jumped into the backseat and then turned around in circles a couple times before situating himself comfortably.

"What time does our train leave?"

"Forty-five minutes."

"Hopefully the roads aren't bad," Selphie said with an optimistic smile.

Squall was ominously silent. "How long of a train ride are we in for?" Selphie asked nervously.

"Twenty hours or so," Squall said, glancing at his watch. "By the time we get there, after traveling time and figuring in time change, it'll be around six in the evening Esthar time." Selphie almost fell forward into the dashboard. "I thought you liked trains," he said.

"I do, but …"

"Well, it's a nonstop, transcontinental, very fast ride to Esthar. Normally, this trip would take several days."

"A-Rank privilege?"

"I guess you could say that," he thought aloud.

"Why couldn't we just take the Ragnarok?" she complained loudly.

"It's for emergency use only now."

"That sucks," she folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window. It was so white outside that they almost appeared to be motionless, with only an occasional tree zooming past to remind them otherwise. Several times she attempted to start a conversation with Squall, but he was so lethargic that it was more interesting talking to Rocks.

She glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard. It was only six thirty in the morning — early enough that even she was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open.

Squall watched out of the corner of his eye as Selphie nodded in and out of consciousness. Every time she fell asleep, her head fell either forward or backward, then after a few seconds it snapped upright. A wide-eyed Selphie would peer around, declaring that she was awake, but just minutes later would repeat the entire process all over again.

Finally, Squall pulled the car into the train station and lightly shook Selphie's shoulder. She awoke and looked around in a bewildered state, then her eyes widened and she blushed. "I wasn't sleeping," she said quickly.

"I know," Squall answered, "I'll get a trolley for our luggage."

He didn't have to go very far for a trolley. When Selphie saw him returning, she let herself out of the car, wrapping her green scarf around her face.

She walked to the back and opened the trunk. Rocks' head was staring at her from over the back seats. He barked a greeting, and she reached up to scratch his head. "You can come out if you'll stay," she said through the thick knitted fabric covering her mouth. Almost instantly, the golden retriever bounded out of the car and sat at her heels, his tail thumping against the icy pavement. It wasn't until Selphie had gotten most of the luggage out that Squall arrived with the trolley.

"Good, I was starting to think you'd been knocked unconscious fighting some old woman for a trolley."

"No, but you'd be surprised," he sighed. Selphie stared at him momentarily, trying to decipher whether or not he was being sarcastic. Seconds later, she gave up, for she had other things to think about, such as not slipping on the ice.

Finally, the SeeDs' trolley was piled high with luggage, so they carefully made their way down the platforms to their train.

It wasn't a very big train. It was quite tiny compared to the normal passenger train, and minuscule compared to a freight train. The only thing she could compare it to was the Timber Owls' personal train. It was basically an engine connected to a couple of passenger cars, a boxcar for luggage, and then the caboose, all bearing the golden SeeD emblem painted on the jet black metal.

"Wow!" Selphie breathed, completely awestruck. "This is so much coolerthan any other train ever built!"

Upon approaching the immobile machine, a man dressed in a fancy uniform took the trolley from them and ushered the two stunned SeeDs aboard. Rocks was taken to a separate compartment.

The entrance car on the train was similar to what Selphie was used to, but a bit more complex. Squall pulled the two tickets from his pocket and inserted them one at a time into a slot.

"Passenger fifty-three, Squall Leonhard, please swipe your A-Rank ID card," an electronic voice instructed. After searching through his wallet the Commander did as he was asked. "Confirming …" the voice said, and then, "ID confirmed." Squall stood expectantly waiting for the thick metal door to open, but instead the computer he was standing at thrust a strange flat box at him. "Please place your hand on the scanner," the voice said again.

"This is ridiculous," Squall said under his breath, but nevertheless he did.

"Confirming … access granted." The mechanical doors slid open.

"I'll meet you in our room," Squall said over his shoulder.

"What's the number?"

"15A."

"Okay!" she called after him. The doors slammed shut and Selphie was stuck at the computer.

"Passenger fifty-four, Selphie Tilmitt, please swipe your A-Rank ID card."

Selphie dropped her carry-on duffel bag and rummaged through her purse, silently praying to Hyne that she had actually remembered to bring her ID. Finally grasping it, she swiped it through the slot. "Confirming … ID confirmed. Please place your hand on the scanner."

"Stupid high tech security systems …" Selphie muttered, placing her hand over the scanner. There was a pause as the computer made a beeping sound. "Confirming … access granted."

The metallic door slid open, and Selphie walked inside, stunned by the compartment's interior. The car she had just set foot in looked more like the lobby of a fancy hotel. There were exotic potted plants, expensive-looking couches and tables covered with intricate cloths. Squall was nowhere to be seen, but Selphie did spot a few familiar faces from the Council. A girl she recognized from Galbadia Garden approached her.

"Hello," she smiled extending her hand. "You're our new negotiator, aren't you?"

Selphie blushed slightly, nodded, and shook the girl's hand. "I'm Selphie," she said.

"Selphie, huh? My name's Delia, I'm an intelligence expert," she smiled using her fingers to make quotation marks around her title. "I just wanted you to know that I think you're very brave, very admirable!"

"Why, thank you!" Selphie beamed, feeling slightly better about the assigned job she was still having trouble coping with.

Then, switching modes completely, Delia gasped and pointed at Selphie's scarf. "I _love_your scarf! Did you knit that yourself?"

Selphie reached up and unwrapped the green scarf from around her neck. "This?" she asked. "Oh no, I didn't make it, a —" she stopped and thought for a moment. Nida would probably kill her if she let slip that he enjoyed knitting in his spare time. ("A man needs to keep his dignity!" he would say.) "A friend made it for me."

"Wow, she's really good!"

Selphie had to force herself not to laugh.

Delia opened her over-sized purse and pulled out some knitting needles and yarn. She was working on what appeared to be a large red sock. "I just started a few months ago, but I'm still having trouble pearling. Maybe your friend can teach me?"

This time Selphie did laugh aloud, but she promptly covered her mouth and regained her composure. "I would ask, but she's very busy now."

Delia looked utterly heartbroken. "Oh …" she said dejectedly, placing her work-in-progress back in her purse.

"I'm sorry, Delia. It was nice to meet you and all …but I need to find …"

"Squall?" Delia perked up again, "He went that way!" she said as she pointed down the hall.

"How did you know?"

"He came in right before you, and you both arrived late to your first meeting together, you go to the same Garden —"

"I get the picture," Selphie stopped her.

"Tell him I like his chocobo boxers!" Delia said, smiling broadly as the two walked in opposite directions.

As Selphie strolled down the suite car looking for her room, she passed a group of older male SeeDs she didn't recognize. "A-Ranks are traveling in style now," one of them was saying. "I wish that we could _always_use this train."

"Why can't we?" another asked

"I guess it's mainly used for transporting A-Rank SeeDs to problem zones quickly."

"I see …"

Their voices faded as she walked further away. Eventually she found 15A. The door was ajar and she could see Squall sitting in a chair just inside. He seemed to be wearing a fresh new pair of un-ripped jeans.

He looked at her inquiringly, and interpreting his look she said, "I got held up by a girl who is a bit …"

"Ah," he said, averting his eyes back to the newspaper he was skimming through. "That would be Delia."

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I saw her, and I avoided her."

Selphie laughed, "Well you didn't completely succeed. She still saw you."

"Of course she did, no one can slip by her unnoticed. As crazy as she is, she is very smart. Quistis can't _stand_her." Then, dropping his voice and looking around, as if making sure the instructor wasn't listening in at that very moment, "Delia got a higher score than she did on both the SeeD entrance exam and the A-Rank exam."

"Oh, so that's why she's an intelligence expert."

"That would be why." Squall straightened out his newspaper with a flick of his wrist, then resumed his reading.

Selphie promptly dropped her duffel-bag on the floor and crawled up the ladder onto the top bunk of the bed. "I call top bunk!" she announced, peering at the Commander over the bed's wooden bed frame.

"I figured you would," he replied monotonously.

She smiled and sprawled out on the bed. Across the wall just ahead of her was a screen with LEDs continuously scrolling across it, spelling out announcements such as: 'Please make sure any firearms you may be carrying have the safety on.' or 'Please no explosives in or around the engine car.'

As she stared at the glowing red letters continuing to scroll across the wall, her eyes began to feel heavier and heavier. Before she could even think to fight it, sleep overtook her tired body and nothing, not even the jostling of the train, could bother her.

When Selphie awoke, she gave a great yawn and stretched her arms above her head. Eyes still blurry from sleep, she glanced to where she had last seen Squall reading the paper. She had expected to see him still there, but both the chair and the rest of the room were empty. She glanced at her watch and realized she had been asleep for over three hours.

"Poop!" she exclaimed, scurrying down the ladder. "I'm useless without alarm clocks!" Brimming with a surge of energy from her power nap, Selphie dashed from their compartment to begin searching for Squall.

The train was very different compared to the other trains she was accustomed to riding. The compartments were much more extravagant, and the cars seemed longer, too. Selphie walked through three cars, passing all sorts of SeeDs she did not recognize, but she got the feeling that every single one of them knew her. They all whispered as she walked by, making her feel very uncomfortable. One group of older guys catcalled her as she passed them.

"Nice," she said over her shoulder sarcastically.

"Dude, you better watch it," she could hear one of the boys whisper. "That's Squall's new girl."

"Squall?" a couple of them exclaimed at once. One of them promptly turned around to apologize to her retreating figure, but before he was able to, she decided to have some fun.

She turned around and asked as sweetly as she could, "I'm sorry to bother you, have you seen Commander Leonhart? I've been looking all over for him, but I just cannot find him anywhere!"

The stranger stared back at her, eyes wide and mouth agape. The entire gang followed in suit. They offered no information, and instead all just looked at her stupidly. "I guess not," she said, frowning, as she continued through the car.

As she passed through the door to the next car she heard one of the guys stutter, "You-you don't think she'd say anything to him about that … d-do you?"

Once she was sure she was out of earshot, she laughed gleefully. However, her laughter came to a sudden stop as she realized she had walked into the dining car, and all of the SeeDs occupying it were staring at her. Immediately, Selphie turned a brilliant red. Quickly scanning the dining car, she saw no sign of Squall and wondered where on Terra he could be. Just as she was getting ready to backtrack, she heard someone squeal, "Selphie!"

Upon hearing her name, Selphie spun around and was suddenly face-to-face with a very excited-looking Delia. "I didn't see you for a few hours, so I was wondering where you went!"

"Oh … I took a nap."

"Well that would explain it. You didn't miss much, of course, but why don't you sit down?" she said, patting the booth beside her.

Selphie looked at her and smiled politely, "I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of looking for Squall —"

"SIT!" Delia ordered.

There was something about that direct command that made Selphie decide not to argue. Used to following orders, she scrambled into the booth and looked at Delia's face, which was now smiling in a friendly manner. Delia flipped a lock of her blond hair over her shoulder and picked up her knitting needles. "I've been working on a sweatshirt for our headmaster. It's going to be his Christmas gift," Delia announced, even though Selphie didn't ask.

"That's neat."

"What are you getting for Squall?"

"I guess I haven't really thought about it yet …"

Delia stared at her, shocked, as if this were the worst thing she'd ever heard. "But Christmas is coming up next week!"

Selphie blushed again. "I'll think of something creative. I just need time."

"You should learn to knit. Then you can make lots of gifts for cheap."

"Maybe, but some other time." Mustering all of her courage, Selphie decided to attempt her escape. "I need to look for Squall."

Slowly she stood up, but Delia made a weird shrieking noise and pulled her back down. "You need to learn to knit first!" The blond girl thrust a pair of knitting needles into Selphie's empty hands and immediately began giving instructions.

An hour later, Selphie emerged from the dining car with an odd lump of knotted yarn —her first attempt at knitting — as well as her own set of needles and a ball of yarn. Delia had called them 'early Christmas presents.' Selphie didn't think she would ever be very good at knitting, despite Delia's constant reassurances that she would improve. Her so-called 'pot holder' was evidence enough, not to mention knitting made her hands and neck cramp up.

Upon entering their room again, Selphie placed her new knitting supplies on the table, saw Squall was still not there, and left again. This time she was determined to find him, so she wandered toward the opposite direction of the train. The cars seemed identical to each other and were mainly empty. Occasionally she saw a SeeD or two, wandering around just as aimlessly as she was.

Most people she didn't recognize, but she still couldn't help feeling like everyone already knew her. Mostly, people quickly looked away when she tried to make eye contact. Some smiled at her, but their smiles seemed to mask something other than friendliness.

She walked and walked until she came to the last car. Still no sign of Squall. The only logical explanation was spontaneous combustion, but since she was sure an explosion would have woken her earlier, there seemed to be no evidence to support her theory. Frustrated, she opened the heavy door that led to the back of the caboose. Sure enough, she saw a familiar bomber jacket and joined Squall outside.

The frigid air combined with the whipping wind caused by the speed of the train made her immediately regret not having brought her jacket. Teeth chattering, she managed to stutter out, "Have you b-b-been out h-here all d-d-d-day?" She rubbed her hands up and down her arms to keep them warm.

He looked over his shoulder. His mouth wasn't smiling, but his eyes were. She knew this was his 'yes' answer.

"Are you c-crazy? It's f-f-f-freez-zing out here! And I've b-b-been looking f-for y-you t-t-too! I w-was int-tercepted b-by D-D-Delia …"

"Sorry," he said quietly, then looked back over the railing of the caboose.

"W-W-What are you d-d-doing out h-here anyway?"

"Thinking."

"Ab-b-bout?"

This time he gave no sign of an answer, he merely looked out and beyond. Selphie moved next to him still shivering violently. When he saw this, Squall opened up his jacket and motioned her over to him. He wrapped the jacket around the two of them. She was pleased to find that Squall's chest was very warm. She noticed that they were above ground at the moment, as it was bright outside and there was also quite a bit of snow.

"Where are we now?" she asked.

"Don't know." Squall sighed. "We've been on the train for about four hours already, give or take. So we're not even a quarter of the way through our trip yet."

Selphie inhaled the cold air and watched the snow slowly descend. It was quite peaceful outside, despite the rushing wind and freezing air. It was silent between the two of them. Selphie just stood there, wrapped in Squall's jacket and breathing in his cologne, so close she could feel his heartbeat.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked again.

Squall groaned, but still didn't answer her. Selphie, however, had already been through a crash course of 'Understanding Squall 101,' and though she occasionally failed miserably, she usually had a way of hitting the nail on the head. "Is it about Laguna?"

Again, Squall remained silent, thus giving the answer away.

"You're being silly, you shouldn't worry about it. Laguna is a nice, laid-back guy. You don't have to worry about impressing him or anything. You just need to be yourself … maybe a little nicer." For this comment, she received a friendly poke.

"It's hard to explain," Squall sighed.

"Don't worry about explaining it," she smiled. "Look at it this way. Laguna is much nicer than General Caraway. Look at Rinny. She's been trying to get closer to her father, and she's failed because he's too judgemental. It's the opposite with you. Laguna is trying to be a father again, and the only thing holding him back is you. He's afraid of you, Squall. He's afraid of being rejected by you …"

They were silent again, and then a revelation hit her like a brick wall. Selphie knew exactly what was bothering Squall. He had lived as an orphan his entire life, constantly feeling the sting of never being one of the lucky ones in the orphanage to find a home. He'd been abandoned once, and he didn't want it to happen again. She turned around inside his jacket and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It'll all turn out okay. You'll see. I'm sure of it!"

"I hope so," he murmured.

"You smell good," she said, not really sure why the statement was leaving her mouth, but the change of subject seemed to be perfectly fine with Squall. He gave a small laugh that sounded like a snort.

"Ready to go in?" he finally asked.

"Are you kidding? It's _freezing_out here!"

Selphie ran inside, and Squall followed at a much slower pace behind her. Once in their room, Squall removed his jacket and sat down on his bed. Selphie looked at him and a giggle burst out. She immediately covered her mouth to hide it.

"What?" he asked.

"Your nose is all red."

"Well, yours is too."

"Yeah, but you look funnier!"

"Oh, is that so?"

As much as Selphie loved trains, most of an entire day was just too much to spend on one. She was very glad to set foot on good old solid terra firma again. The first thing she noticed as she stepped onto the platform was just how bright the sun was. The second thing was the man with long brown hair, hopping up and down and bearing a sign that said, 'Welcome Home, Son!' and shouting, "SQUALL! SELPHIE! OVER HERE! OVER HEEERE!"

It wouldn't have been quite so comical had the train station not been completely silent and motionless. Most SeeDs were getting off the train and embracing friends and family. Some were walking away from the train alone with their belongings slung casually over their shoulder. There was very little commotion. The train station wasn't crowded enough for it. Therefore, the sight of Laguna's desperate attempts to get their attention made Squall mumble a profanity under his breath and turn a shade of crimson Selphie had never before seen him achieve.

Just behind the president were dozens of news reporters. They were leaning excitedly forward, waiting for the prodigal son who was finally coming home. Female reporters fluffed their hair and casually placed their microphones in front of Laguna, asking silly questions like, "How long has it been since you last saw your son?" Laguna waved them all away and continued his yelling.

Selphie nudged Squall in the side, and, beaming, stepped toward the excited president. Kiros was standing close by. He seemed to be trying to persuade Laguna to stop his yelling, but was having little luck. Squall followed reluctantly behind his much happier counterpart.

As soon as she was within ten feet of Laguna, the overly-excited president cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Selphie! Do you see me? I'm right HERE!"

"Yes, Sir Laguna, I see you. Boy, it sure is a good thing that you stand out in such a crowd. Otherwise, we might not have ever found you!"

Laguna gave Kiros a look that clearly meant, "I told you so," and smiled at the two SeeDs laden with luggage. "I'm so happy that you came to spend the holidays here in Esthar! Kiros, Ward, will you carry their luggage for them?"

Not so enthusiastically, Laguna's friends complied.

"I'll be right back!" Selphie announced, holding her finger up. She ran back toward the A-Rank train. As she approached the car that Rocks was in, she whistled and the door opened. A man wearing his SeeD uniform led Rocks out by his collar. "Here you go, Ms. Tilmitt," he said with a smile. "Have a good day!"

Rocks looked happier than ever as he bounded toward her. He immediately jumped up and gave her several slobbery kisses on her face. "Are you ready, Rocks? You're going to be living in the lap of luxury for a week!" Selphie laughed, patting her dog on the head. "Come on!" Excitedly, Rocks followed.

"Do we have everyone?" Laguna asked upon her return, still ignoring the reporters throwing questions at him.

"I think so. Laguna, have you met Rocks yet?"

"I don't believe I have," the president admitted with a grin.

"Rocks, this is Sir Laguna, he's the president of Esthar. And Laguna, this is Rocks. He's a dog," Selphie stated matter-of-factly with a wink.

"Hello Rocks, will you be staying with us for the holidays too?"

Rocks barked his response, and Laguna laughed and petted him on the head. "I like him. Where did you get him?" he asked pushing his way through the eager press. Everyone tried their best to keep up.

"I saved him from a butcher."

"A butcher? How _terrible__!_"

"It's not how it sounds," Squall muttered.

Laguna looked at Selphie as if asking her to confirm Squall's statement, but the girl was too busy gazing at the wondrous city outside the train station. "I love this city!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms over her head. "I do wish it snowed here though," she sighed, looking back at the group of men following her. "As a native Trabia girl, I do love the snow!" she smiled.

"It's hard for it to snow here, honey," Kiros said as he struggled with a handful of luggage. "The entire city has a controlled climate."

"Yeah …and outside the city is desert and the salt flats," Laguna added.

"I know, but still, this city would be really pretty covered in snow."

"It would, wouldn't it?" Laguna quietly agreed.

"Never mind that," Kiros said quickly, still struggling under the weight of the luggage, "Let's hurry back to the palace." Squall took some of his baggage back from the older man and helped him carry it to the limousine waiting for them outside the train station. They loaded the luggage into the long vehicle, then slowly squeezed themselves in as well.

"How long to the palace?" Selphie asked, situating herself on the corner of one of the seats.

"Not long!" Laguna smiled. It was a good thing too, because the drive there was very awkward. On a normal day, under normal circumstances, the five of them would have fit perfectly well and comfortably within that limousine. However, Selphie's inability to pack light, combined with the lack of a big enough trunk to fit all of their luggage, meant the area inside was very cramped. Every once in a while, Laguna made an attempt to start a conversation, but not even Selphie felt like talking at that point. The limousine finally stopped before the large Presidential Palace.

Selphie, being closest to the door, began opening it. "I'd wait if I were you!" Laguna yelled quickly, but it was too late. Reporters and paparazzi were already leaning into the car, shoving their cameras in and clicking blindly, hoping for a good shot. Moments later, the driver successfully pushed them back enough that everyone could climb out of the limo.

"Squall, who is this that you brought along with you?" one reporter asked, shoving a microphone in his face. He ignored her and pushed past them, carrying a couple bags from the car.

Selphie shouldered her duffel bag and began following him, Rocks bounding along at her heels. "Do you have anything you wish to say to the people of Esthar?" one reporter asked, cutting Selphie off in her progression to the palace.

"Um …" she looked around, "Everyone, love and peace!" she smiled and threw up the peace sign. Rocks barked his agreement, then expertly weaved through the reporters and began romping on the extensive lawn the Palace offered.

The reporters all exclaimed something and snapped more photos. Responding to that one question made all of the other reporters jump at her like animals starving for food. Not sure what to do, Selphie was relieved to feel a strong hand behind her guide her forward. She turned around to see Ward smiling down at her silently as he led her through the crowd and into the palace.

Once everyone was inside, Rocks came bounding indoors as well. Laguna led the two tired SeeDs up a long flight of spiral stairs. Kiros and Ward lingered behind, still dragging in the last of their belongings. Lining the halls of the palace were many paintings and expensive-looking statues and artifacts. One in particular caught Selphie's and Rocks' eyes, though for completely different reasons. A life-size statue of the president stood along one of the corridors and at its base was a placard that read, "A Gift From the Shumi Village." Squall and Laguna continued ahead unknowingly, but Selphie stared at it until finally Rocks broke her concentration. He walked up to the statue and began to lift his leg. "Ahhh!" she yelled sternly, and before he could squeeze anything out of his bladder, all of his paws were grounded. "What did I tell you about peeing on priceless artifacts?" she asked, shaking a finger at the dog. His ears lowered and he walked away, defeated. "Let's go catch up to the other two!" she said, slapping her leg to get his attention. Laguna and Squall had stopped at the end of the long hallway to wait for her. Finally, Laguna opened up a door and motioned the two inside. "This is where you'll be staying while you're here."

Selphie blushed as she saw there was only one giant bed. Misinterpreting her reaction, Laguna automatically exclaimed, "If you don't like what we've done to it, you're welcome to decorate it however you like!"

"Oh, it's not that — it's beautiful!" Selphie immediately responded, holding her hands up defensively. "It's just … where am I staying?"

Laguna's face dropped. "Oh I'm sorry, I assumed you two were … err …" He looked from Squall to Selphie and back again. "I have another room you're welcome to stay in, it's just, well…" He looked uncomfortable.

"The heater is broken," Kiros said, finishing for him.

"No!" Laguna said angrily, "It's haunted."

"Haunted?" Selphie exclaimed.

"Yes, there are these awful wails that come from it"

"Because the heater is broken."

"And the walls shake."

"Because the heater is broken." Kiros drawled again. Laguna glared at him, but Kiros shrugged and said, "It's an old radiator heater. It's been broken since before we moved in here, but Laguna won't have anyone come fix it because he thinks the room is haunted."

"I would wish it upon no one to enter that room!" Laguna declared.

Selphie giggled. "It's okay," she said. "I just didn't expect to share a room, that's all. But it is a lovely room."

"Good," Laguna beamed, "Ell decorated it. She was so excited that the two of you were coming, I didn't even have to ask her. Speaking of Ell, she's downstairs, if the two of you want to say hi."

Squall's face lit up when he heard this. "Sis is here?"

"Sure is! And she brought a charming young man with her this time. Let's all go see them. Dinner should be just about done anyway!" He led them back downstairs and into a massive dining room with a long wooden table. Selphie imagined that it was more for entertaining large dinner parties of diplomats rather than family and friends, but it appeared they would be dining there nonetheless.

Laguna swept behind Selphie and pulled a chair out for her, gesturing politely. "Thanks!" she beamed, taking her seat.

"I'll find Ell," Laguna announced, leaving Squall and Selphie with Kiros and Ward in the dining room. Laguna's friends sat down in what Selphie assumed to be their normal seats, and Squall took the seat next to her.

Anyone looking in would probably assume Ward was not the only mute in the room. Kiros and Selphie chatted politely, but Squall seemed to be silently studying the cutlery in front of him.

"So you're from Trabia?" Kiros asked.

"Yes. Well, actually, I'm not really sure," she began, stroking Rocks' head, which was laying now in her lap. "My adoptive parents lived in Trabia, and most of my childhood was spent there. I transferred to Balamb Garden about a year ago."

"Lived in Trabia? Where do they live now?" he asked.

"Well, um, they died," she said awkwardly. Kiros looked shocked and opened his mouth to apologize, but Selphie held up her hands. "Honestly, it's all right, you didn't know," she said quietly. "During the first sorceress war," she began, "As I'm sure you remember, the Estharian army back then was under her control. After the war ended, the spell broke and most soldiers returned home as if nothing had ever happened. But for some reason, the spell never wore off on some, or maybe they just enjoyed killing by then. They called themselves her knights. Even though Adel had been trapped and entombed in space, they continued to do her bidding across the countryside. They made it through to Trabia eventually and, well," she paused for a moment and sighed, "My parents stood with many others trying to fight them off. It was because our town stood up to them that the last of the knights were either killed or arrested, but my parents didn't make it."

"I'd heard about the knights," Kiros breathed. "I'm sorry to hear your family fell victim."

"Nah," she smiled, "They weren't victims. They didn't go down easily. But anyway, after they gave their life to protect the world from what was left of the sorceress' regime, I decided I should too. I lied about my age and enrolled in Trabia Garden, and the rest is history!"

"Impressive," Kiros smiled.

Suddenly there was some commotion in the doorway as Ellone bustled through it, followed by Laguna and a tall, and somewhat familiar blond man. "Squall! Selphie!" she cried, running to them. "How was your trip? I'm so glad you could come!" she exclaimed giving them each hugs in turn. Then standing up straight, she turned around and gestured at the man. "This is Nolan," she said with a smile.

Squall stood up and shook his hand, a bit of confusion on his face. "You seem familiar," he said quietly.

"Nolan was a White SeeD," Ellone said, smiling broadly.

"Oh, well then that explains how you know Sis!" Selphie said, also standing to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you both again," Nolan said grinning, then he took Ellone by the hand and they walked to the other side of the table, where they took the seats opposite Squall and Selphie. It fell awkwardly silent at the table again as everyone got situated.

"So what's for dinner tonight, Uncle Laguna?" Ell asked sweetly as she plucked her cloth napkin from the table and set it in her lap.

"You'll see!" he said in a sing-song voice, also putting the napkin in his lap. Just moments later a very dignified looking butler stepped into the dining room.

"May I bring anyone a drink?" he asked smoothly.

"I'm good with water!" Selphie said quickly.

"Water," Squall said as well. He was echoed by Ellone and Nolan.

"He'll have water too!" Selphie said, pointing at Rocks, who was sitting beside her chair.

"Of course, madam," the butler nodded curtly.

"The usual," Laguna said with a smile.

"Same," Kiros said, and Ward gave a nod.

The butler gave a stiff bow and walked away, returning just moments later with all the drinks. Laguna's "usual" appeared to be some sort of amber colored liquor, but it came out in a very tall glass. The president picked up the glass and took several gulps of it.

"Ahh, nothing like sweet tea," he said with a grin. Selphie and Ellone glanced at each other, smiling, then Ellone cleared her throat as the butler bustled through the doors carrying salads.

"Well," she started slowly. "Now that everyone is here, I have some news."

If it was awkwardly silent before, now it was even worse. Laguna put his drink down and stared at her stupidly. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Everyone stared at her as she turned a pale shade of pink, "I'm fine," she said softly, then looking up from her lap she said with a very large grin on her face, "Everyone, Uncle Laguna, we're getting married." If at all possible, her smile widened even more, showing off all of her dazzling teeth. She held out her hand so that everyone could examine the ring on her finger. It was a beautiful white gold ring, with a modest stone on top.

The silence was suddenly broken with an uproar of excitement. The butler came scrambling back into the dining room for fear that someone had dropped something. Laguna, who had jumped out of his chair, grabbed the butler around the shoulders and said, "Mikey, I'm going to need to you to bring champagne for everyone!" he exclaimed, gesturing around the table.

Selphie and Squall looked at each other and back to Laguna. "E-Except those two," Laguna quickly added, pointing at the two teenagers. "Not old enough."

The butler disappeared again, but returned fairly quickly with five champagne flutes and a bottle. He presented the bottle to Laguna, who laughed. "Sure, sure, good choice," he said, and waved the butler off. "Honestly I wouldn't know a bad choice if it hit me in the face," he said with a wink. "But champagne is champagne!" He tore the foil off from around the neck, untwisted the wire cage that held the cork down, and then pulled the cork out with a deafening pop. The champagne fizzed and threatened to overflow from the bottle. Laguna hastily poured some into each of the glasses, passed them to those in the room old enough to partake, and raised his own in a toast.

"To Ell and Nolan!" he exclaimed. Selphie was holding up her water glass to participate in the toast, and Squall quickly copied her. "May you love as long as you live, and live as long as you love!"

"Here, here!" everyone said in unison as they clinked their glasses together and each took a sip.

"So, do tell!" Selphie said excitedly, taking her seat again. "You said he was a White SeeD, but how did you meet?"

"Well," Ellone began, "We've known each other since we were very young. You see, he was in the orphanage too."

"Really?" Selphie exclaimed.

Ellone smiled again and continued, "He used to ask me to marry him all the time when we were young, do you remember, Nolan?"

Nolan chuckled, "Of course I do — You always said no!" Then shaking his head, Nolan continued the story. "The first time I met Ellone, I was five, and she was about four. She'd just been brought to the orphanage. I was smitten with her immediately and asked her to marry me, but she told me that we were too young to worry about something like that."

"Well, we were!" she giggled.

"After the time compression and the destruction of the Ellone Junction Machine, there wasn't really a need for White SeeDs. We were given the option of going to Garden and becoming just normal SeeDs, but a lot of us decided to pursue other interests. Ellone determined that she wanted to travel back to many of the places in her childhood, starting with Winhill, so I decided to go with her," he said, grasping her hand on the table.

"We travelled to many places, but we finally found ourselves back on Centra, at the beach by the orphanage," Ellone continued, her eyes sparkling with tears. "He laughed and said to me, 'Do you remember when I used to pester you about marrying me? Man we've really grown up since then, haven't we?' I said yes, then suddenly he was on one knee. He asked me, 'So are you ready now then?' and showed me the ring." Her face was now blushing, but her smile didn't falter.

"That is _so_romantic!" Selphie swooned.

"'Atta boy!" Laguna yelled, raising his champagne glass again. Nolan lifted his as well and they both drank to their mutual toast.

Squall muttered a congratulations under his breath, but was now glowering at Nolan.

Selphie glanced at Squall confusedly, and then looked back to Ellone. "So when are you thinking the big day is going to be?"

"Well," Ellone's eyes met with Nolan's for a brief second, then she looked back at Selphie. "We aren't sure yet. We want it to be about a year from now though. Maybe next fall?"

Nolan nodded his agreement. "We'll have to see what we plan on doing for the ceremony and what's available and when," he said as the kitchen doors were thrown open once again. Now a short parade of chefs and staff came bustling into the room. Two were carrying a a roasted animal kneeling on a platter, an apple placed squarely in its mouth.

Selphie's eyes widened in horror, and noticing her reaction, one of the chefs quickly explained, "Roasted young mesmerize."

"I think I'm becoming a vegetarian," she said quietly to Squall.

Many more platters were set down on the table, then the staff promptly bowed and left the room.

Laguna rubbed his hands together. "So!" he exclaimed, pulling the lid from some of the platters. "We have steamed cactuar, turtapod soup and caterchipillar rolls. We don't have guests very often, so the chefs outdid themselves tonight!" he beamed. "Everyone, help yourself!"

Kiros stood up and started to cut into the mesmerize, offering slices of the meat to everyone at the table as he did so. He finally got to Selphie and held out a slice of the meat. She put her hands up, and as politely as she could, said, "I'm sorry, I can't eat anything that's staring at me …"

Kiros looked confused and glanced at the mesmerize. "Its eyes have been removed …"

"Not the point," she said quickly, averting her gaze from the animal in the center of the table. She spent the rest of dinner avoiding eye contact (or lack thereof) with the beast.

Once everyone started to eat, the ice was completely broken and there was casual conversation at the table. Even Squall spoke up every once in a while. Everything that Selphie tasted was very good. She would have never guessed she'd like cactuar, or caterchipillar for that matter. The butler had even set out a bowl of food for Rocks. This, however, was completely untouched, as Rocks was glued to Laguna's side, eagerly anticipating the next morsel that the president would slip him under the table.

Two bottles of champagne and half a mesmerize later, everyone's stomachs were filled to capacity. The butler had returned and offered dessert. Nearly everyone refused, hands over their guts, saying that they couldn't even _think_of eating more food. Ward, however, was more than willing to partake in dessert. He raised his large hand and nodded to the butler, who must have known exactly what he meant, as he returned with some ice cream minutes later.

"I know you're both probably exhausted with the time change and all, but it's still only about eight thirty," Laguna said, throwing his napkin on the table. "What do you say to a game, hmm? Of course if you're too tired, you don't have to!" he added hastily.

Selphie looked at Squall long enough to determine if this request bothered him at all. If it did, he didn't show it. "We'd love to!" she said, also removing her napkin from her lap. "What are we playing?"

Everyone had their own opinion on what game they should play — everyone except Squall, that is. Finally, however, everyone had agreed on a game of Pictionary, and the group had headed to the palace's living room. They had all pulled straws, and Selphie, Ellone, Laguna and Ward were going head to head with Squall, Nolan and Kiros. The game was getting heated and steadily more competitive.

It was Selphie's turn to draw something for her team, and the card she drew said "stove" on it. She thought momentarily, but time was ticking away, so she finally drew a square and began drawing a swirl in one corner when Ellone blurted out, "Stove!"

Selphie turned and pointed at her excitedly, "That's right!"

"I thought it was a cassette tape…" Laguna said disappointedly.

"Ugh!" Nolan grunted loudly. "They're cheating, they must be!" he laughed, "How did you get a stove from that?" he asked pointing to the drawing.

"Hey, it's a very good stove!" Selphie laughed, putting her hands on her hips. She ran back to her team, high-fiving everyone as she sat, and then it was Squall's turn to draw.

His card said "gasoline." He muttered something to himself about how the other team always got the easy ones, then thought momentarily before he started drawing the first thing that came to mind — a gas can. As he started drawing he could hear Nolan behind him shouting, "Uh … um … house! No? Bucket! Bucket! Bucket! House? Bucket! Watering can? Bucket! Gas tank?"

Squall turned toward him and tried to motion he was on the right track, but this only made him repeat "Gas tank!" over and over again.

Squall irritatedly starting pointing to the line of liquid he'd drawn inside the gas can, and finally, very timidly Kiros asked, "Gas …?" Squall motioned him to continue, he was on the right track, "Oh! Gaso —"

"Eeeehhhh! Time's up!" Laguna screeched gleefully, holding up the little hour glass. Squall tossed the pen back onto the pad of paper and trudged back to his team, glaring unmistakably at Nolan as he passed.

"If it wasn't correct the first time, it wasn't correct," he muttered, sitting beside Kiros. Nolan had a terrible habit of repeating his guesses over and over, rather than coming up with new ones. It was driving Squall crazy, he decided not to whack him in the back of the head for Ell's sake, no matter how much he was convinced Nolan deserved it. Besides, even though his team was losing by a significant margin, he was enjoying himself. He would, however, never let anyone figure that out easily.

Now Laguna was at the board. His word was "spoon." Quickly, he drew a line with a circle at the top. Immediately shouts of "lollipop!" "stop sign!" and "person!" were heard coming from the girls, both of whom were sitting on the edge of the couch. Laguna shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, then started drawing a fork next to his primitive spoon. Suddenly, Ward leaned forward and began intensely pantomiming something. Selphie looked at him and immediately understood what he was doing. "SPOON!" she shouted.

"YES!" Laguna exclaimed, jumping into the air and doing a little victory dance. Instantaneously, flashes of light started coming through the window. Selphie, who immediately equated the sudden flashes to lightning, began to cower until she realized she was hearing the unmistakable sound of shutters clicking.

Laguna walked over the window and shut the curtains as if this were a common occurrence.

"They must've climbed the wall again," Kiros said, shaking his head. "I swear, there's no keeping those people out! I'll page security right away." He stood up and walked out of the room.

But it seemed that the security guards were already aware of the situation. Outside Selphie heard a man exclaim, "I think I got a good one of President Loire!"

"You're intruding on private property," said a second, much deeper, voice. "I'll be taking those …"

"I … I have every right to be here! And that's my personal property — hey!" she heard the photographer exclaim, but his protests faded as he was led away from the window. Selphie wondered nervously what was happening to the man, but Laguna didn't look very concerned.

"It's ok, Selphie," Ellone said grabbing her hand. "You get used to it eventually."

"They're not hurting him, are they?"

"No! No, not at all. They'll probably erase the pictures he just took and hand him over to the local police for trespassing. "He'll probably only have to pay a fine, nothing to worry about," Laguna said, waving his hand at her. Then, noticing the time, he exclaimed, "Wow! I think it's high time we called it a night. It's almost midnight, and I'm sure you two are about ready to pass out. Get to bed, and sleep as late as you want tomorrow. You had a long day today, and break is all about rest and relaxation."

Laguna beamed at them, and gestured them toward their room. Everyone else in the room stood up and stretched, tiredly exchanged 'good nights' and retired to their rooms.

Back in the bedroom, although Selphie wanted nothing more than to collapse on the bed and fall asleep with all of her clothes still on, she had exploring to do. The room was gorgeous, and she had only seen it for a brief second when they had dropped their bags off.

"Oh, wow, Squall! We have our own bathroom!" she said, running into the attached bathroom. "AND THE TUB IS GINORMOUS! I should have brought my swimming suit! I think you can dive into this thing!" she said, pointing to the jacuzzi. Of course this was an exaggeration, but the tub was very large. Around the edges were decorative bottles filled with different essential oils, bubble baths and scented bath salts. Selphie made sure to pluck each one up, open the bottle and sniff it. Occasionally she would hand one to Squall for him to smell as well, with a declaration of, "Oooh, that one smells wonderful!"

His responses were not nearly as enthusiastic, ranging normally from "Yeah … nice," to "Hmm," or even the occasional, "Meh …"

"Well, _obviously_you don't appreciate the amenities, but you won't stop _me_from enjoying them!" she announced, then she turned him around and led him out of the bathroom. She closed the door behind him, turned on the faucet and began filling the tub with hot water. Carelessly, she tossed her clothes on the floor and stepped into the tub, letting the warm water wash over her. She decided on lavender scented bubble bath and some calming chamomile bath salts. Within minutes she was laying in a full tub, jets on, with at least a foot of bubbles surrounding her.

It was heavenly — that was really the only word to describe it. She felt pampered, calm, and most importantly, clean. She hummed to herself, wiggling her toes in time and slowly felt herself melt into the water. It wasn't until nearly all the bubbles had popped, the water was getting cold, and her fingers and toes resembled raisins, that she reluctantly got up from the tub and drained the water. Laguna had really thought of everything, she mused, as she wrapped herself in the smaller of the two plush robes hanging on the wall. She dried her hair with a fluffy towel and walked out of the bathroom.

Squall was now sleeping in the bed, with Rocks, also asleep, at his feet. As quietly as she could, Selphie tip-toed to her bag, removed her pajamas, then glancing backwards to ensure Squall was really asleep, slipped them on. Now she was faced with a tough decision.

True, she and Squall had slept close to each other before, but for some reason, sleeping in the same vicinity seemed so much less risque than sleeping in the same bed. She looked around the room, but her only other option was an overstuffed chair in the corner. With a sigh, she looked longingly back at the bed. It looked so comfortable, and she had just finished taking that wonderful bath and felt so relaxed. Who would want to sleep in a chair after that?

She stared between the bed and the chair, and finally gave in. She slipped into the bed next to Squall, who didn't budge. Smiling slyly, she leaned over and kissed his forehead. One corner of his mouth raised into an unconscious smile. Feeling satisfied with herself, she snuggled deeper into the sheets, turned onto her side and and said, "G'night!" Squall stirred momentarily and gave an incomprehensible grunt as his reply. Rocks heaved a deep sigh, which Selphie echoed, and then, smiling into her pillow, she drifted to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Selphie began to stir as the sun shone through the windows, warming her face. An amazing smell had wafted into the room and made its way to her nose. The chefs downstairs must have been working on breakfast, but that wasn't the only smell enticing her. The smell of breakfast was intermingled with a different, familiar smell — the scent of Squall's cologne. As her eyes opened, the first thing she noticed was Squall's bare chest. Surprised, she pulled her head back to look into his face and saw he was still sleeping. The two of them must have moved closer together during the night without realizing it.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Selphie attempted to pull away from the unconscious commander but quickly realized Squall's arms were wrapped completely around her, preventing her from moving. Squall Leonhart, the valiant and brave SeeD, was a closet sleep snuggler. She needed a way to wake him up, but there was so little room to work. Uneasily she poked a thin finger into his chest and whispered, "Hey Squall, you awake?"

No response. Slightly raising her voice, she jabbed a bit harder into his chest and said, "Pssst, Squall!" Still no response. Perhaps it was the very comfortable bed that Laguna had provided for them, or perhaps it was the fact he had been encouraged to sleep in, but Squall appeared comatose. Selphie gave up trying to be delicate, and although it took awhile, she was finally able to grapple her way out of Squall's clutches. He still didn't stir. Once free, she could see the digital alarm clock on his bedside table, which said it was nearing nine o'clock. Momentarily, Selphie considered waiting for Squall to wake up before leaving the bedroom, but then decided that if he could sleep through her pulling away from him, pushing on him, poking him and even trying to talk to him, he probably was going to sleep for a while.

She rolled out of bed and, without bothering to change out of her pajamas, tiptoed out of the bedroom. Rocks appeared to have already left the bedroom. Selphie followed the smell of breakfast down the familiar halls, her bare feet freezing as they made contact with the cold tile floors.

Ahead, she could make out some familiar voices coming from the dining room. It sounded like Ellone was speaking quietly to someone else. Peeking around the corner, she could see that both Ellone and Laguna were sitting all the way at the end of long table, still wearing their pajamas and sipping coffee. "So much for it being a small and simple wedding," Ellone sighed. Laguna reached across the table to pat her hand comfortingly when the floor creaked beneath Selphie's feet.

Immediately the two looked at her in the doorway, appearing surprised, but both smiled at her nonetheless. Laguna motioned for her to come on in. "We're just drinking some coffee until breakfast is done," he explained, pulling the chair beside him out for her. "You're welcome to have some as well."

"I'd love a cup," she smiled, taking the seat. Laguna nodded and stood to get one for her from the kitchen.

Ellone picked up the newspaper from the table and discreetly tried to tuck it out of view, but not before Selphie caught a glimpse of the front page headline. "Wedding of the Century! Ellone Loire to Marry Soon!" it proclaimed. Beneath the headline was a blown up image of the ring on her hand. Off in the corner there was a smaller headline that said, "Is the president's son headed to the altar next?" with an image of Selphie and Squall getting off the train together. Selphie wondered what else was in the newspaper, but as Ellone was obviously making an effort to hide it from her, she decided not to ask. Laguna returned with a coffee mug and poured some coffee into it from the pot set in the center of the table.

"The cream and sugar are there," he said as he gestured to two porcelain cups by the pot of coffee and sat down again.

"Thanks, Sir Laguna!" she said, adding a bit of both to her coffee. "Have you seen Rocks this morning? He wasn't in the bedroom when I woke up."

"Ah, yes," Laguna beamed, his eyes aglow. "As I walked to the dining room this morning, he saw me pass your bedroom and followed me. I let him out into the back yard. It's fenced, so he should be fine, right?"

"Oh, of course," Selphie said.

"He seems to have taken a liking to me. I wonder why?" Laguna mused aloud.

"Well, it couldn't be because of all the mesmerize you slipped him under the table at dinner, could it?" Selphie chided, sipping her coffee.

Laguna went red in the face. "So you saw, huh?" he laughed nervously.

"I saw," she smiled at him, setting her cup down. "Don't worry, I'm not mad," she quickly added, "I just thought it was funny, that's all."

"So, Selphie, do you have any plans today?" Ellone asked over the rim of her mug.

Selphie pondered for a moment and finally said, "Not really, though I admit I do need to go Christmas shopping. I've just had a really hard time figuring out what I should get for Squall."

At this confession, Ellone and Laguna looked at each other and both laughed. "Apparently that's a common problem!" Laguna beamed. "We thought we'd ask you what you'd recommend getting him, but evidently everyone's on the same page."

"I'll tell you what, Selphie," Ellone said excitedly, leaning across the table. "I need to go to the Esthar Mall anyway today to pick up something for Nolan. Would you like to come shopping with me?"

"Would I!" Selphie exclaimed excitedly, but then her smile faltered and she mumbled, "But I, uh, I don't have a lot of money to spend." It was true that she spent most of the money she had on the tickets to come along to Esthar. Squall had offered to buy them for her, but she refused. Even though making A-Rank came with an impressive pay raise, she had had to use most of the money to furnish her new dorm and purchase new clothes to replace the ones she'd lost.

"Not a problem! I know _just_the place!" Ellone said with a wink.

Suddenly the kitchen doors swung open and some of the kitchen staff, bringing plates full of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and hash browns. They placed the food on the table and quickly left.

"Should I go wake up the boys?" Selphie asked, starting to stand.

"No, no, no," Laguna, said, motioning her to take her seat again. "Break is for sleeping in. They can eat whenever they wake up. I'm sure the staff will prepare something for them," he said kindly. "Help yourself, though!"

Breakfast was filled with many laughs as Laguna told an eager Selphie many stories of his travels with Kiros and Ward as a young man. Ellone, although she'd heard the stories countless times before, listened with amusement as she ate her food. Once Selphie was full and the plates were cleared, she ran back to the room to get ready. At first she made an attempt to be as quiet as possible, but Squall still appeared to be dead to the world, so she went ahead about her business normally, and he hardly stirred from his sleep.

Two hours later, Ellone and Selphie were walking around the Esthar Mall. Ellone donned a pair of big sunglasses to partially hide her face, as paparazzi had swarmed the two girls immediately from the time they departed the Palace. Ellone did her best to ignore them and encouraged Selphie to do the same, although Selphie did not find this nearly as easy as Ellone appeared to.

The Esthar Mall seemed gigantic. Selphie only barely remembered it from the first time they came to Esthar, and they had been on such a tight schedule then that no one had been allowed to do much exploring of it. There was not only the main center mall building, but three satellite malls that surrounded it. All of the buildings were connected by sky bridges for the mall-goers to walk across. The complex was not just full of stores, but restaurants, clubs, bars and art galleries. Selphie had never before seen so many businesses squeezed into such a small space.

Eagerly, Ellone took Selphie by the hand and led her into a small boutique named "Sophie's Imports." It was filled with designer handbags, exotic perfumes, fancy shoes and the type of art only seen in very ritzy homes and businesses. None of this stuff, Selphie realized quickly, would interest Squall at all. This realization however, did not deter Selphie from browsing around politely as Ell bounced from display to display, gushing over the newest items. "These were all imported from Deling City!" Ell explained excitedly, running her hand longingly along a lengthy silk scarf. "Deling City is the center of the fashion world. All of the big designers live there."

"That is a really pretty scarf," Selphie admitted, looking at it. "Don't think it's Squall's color though."

Ellone turned pink and said, "Oh yeah! We're looking for Squall's gift. Forgive me, I always gravitate to this store. I have another place in mind for him, but, well, do you mind?" Ell asked quietly, looking around.

Selphie could tell that Ell wanted to browse some more, so she quickly said, "Not at all!" and continued to wander. Even if Selphie had been interested in an item, she would have never been able to afford it. At one point, she excitedly picked up a hair ornament, an orange silk flower adorned with rhinestones and green feathers protruding like soft leaves, before she noticed the price tag and exclaimed, "Seventy-five gil! How can you sleep at night?"

Luckily for Selphie, Ell finished her browsing shortly, and the two left the boutique, Selphie empty handed, Ellone with a new hat, which she put on immediately. It was almost comical to Selphie. Sis looked almost like a spy with her long coat, sunglasses and now the hat, though her disguise didn't fool the paparazzi at all. Photographers followed the two girls to the next store despite Ellone's hidden features, snapping photos wildly and asking outrageous questions, presumably to get some sort of a reaction out of the two. Again, Ellone ignored them like a professional, but Selphie would occasionally look behind her to see what was going on, only to have twenty bright lights flash in her face. The next store that Ell led Selphie to was called "Pandora's Box." "You'd be a lunatic not to shop here!" a sign in the window declared. Upon seeing this, Selphie giggled and Ell smiled back at her.

"This is a neat store, although their slogan is pretty cheesy. All of their stuff is made locally!" she explained, leading Selphie through the doors.

The store held a large variety of items, from touristy coffee mugs and shot glasses to handmade jewelry and picture frames. There were also soaps, perfumes, wind chimes, birdhouses and lamps, as well as hand-crafted beads made from local stones and crystals. The store had a very eclectic collection, and although Selphie was sure Squall would like some of the items here more than anything at Sophie's Imports, she knew she was still a long way away from finding the perfect gift for him.

However, Selphie knew Ellone would love many of the hand-crafted items here. Sadly, even this store was a bit too expensive for Selphie's budget. She begrudgingly left a beautiful necklace behind that would have complimented what she'd seen of Ellone's style so far.

After they left Pandora's Box, Selphie again empty handed, Ellone bustled them around several other boutiques and stores. Unfortunately, none of them had anything that Selphie could afford. After a couple hours of shopping, the two girls stopped for some lunch at one of the many restaurants in the area. Ellone had a few shopping bags worth of merchandise. At least she'd had some luck finding her last minute gifts.

Midway through lunch, Ell's phone began to ring. She quietly apologized to Selphie and answered the phone. She had a very brief conversation with someone Selphie assumed was Nolan. She then said a quick goodbye and set her phone down. Again she looked at Selphie apologetically and said, "I'm so sorry Selphie, Nolan and I have an appointment to meet with a potential officiant for the wedding in about an hour. I almost forgot about it! I need to head that way pretty soon," she said glancing at a clock on the wall. "You're welcome to come along if you'd like!"

Selphie pretended to consider it for a moment, but said, "Thank you, but I really should finish Christmas shopping today."

"Are you sure? Do you want me to have Laguna come so you will have a ride back to the Palace?"

"Oh no, don't worry about me. It's not that long of a walk, besides I could always take the bus if I needed to," Selphie smiled reassuringly.

Ellone looked unsure about this idea, but reluctantly gave in. She insisted on paying the bill. Selphie didn't put up a big fight about this, though she at least made it look like she was upset by the idea of someone paying for her meal. The two parted their ways, and most of the paparazzi followed Ellone as she walked out of the restaurant and left the mall.

There were a few shops that had caught Selphie's eye as Ellone had flitted around the mall, so Selphie headed toward them first. She was glad she'd found the Shumi Artifact store. Not only were their products very high quality, but they were also very affordable. She bought some hand-crafted soaps and some chocolates to give to Ellone, Kiros and Ward.

Next on her list was Rinrin's Pet Shop. Of course Rocks wasn't going to be left out on Christmas morning. She quickly picked out a T-Rexaur bone for him and a new toy that resembled the hide of a Torama, though it had no stuffing in it. Selphie knew all too well from the plushie casualties in her own collection that if it had stuffing in it at all, it certainly wouldn't have it for long.

Finally feeling like she was accomplishing something, she left with her bags and decided to try Don Juan's Shop. She remembered visiting this shop briefly while being in Esthar for the first time, it was a junk shop that sold weapons. She knew she wouldn't have even a fraction of the money necessary to buy him a new gunblade, but she crossed her fingers she could find something, even if it was just an idea. Squall was a practical fellow, after all.

She stepped in and eyed the display. It wasn't long before Don Juan himself stepped out to her aid. "Can I help you find something, miss?" he asked politely. He must have thought she was lost. She probably didn't look like his average patron.

"I'm looking for a Christmas gift for someone who uses a gunblade," she said thoughtfully. "He's a practical person, so do you have any gunblade care kits or anything along those lines?"

His eyes brightened and he led her to the back of the store where he showed her exactly what she had asked for. It was perfect! "This is the king of all kits," he said proudly, opening up the aluminum case to show her. "It has refined Funguar oil for the blade, to prevent oxidation. Brass rods and brushes to clean out the barrel, a bore mop —" but his words seemed to fade out when she saw the price tag.

"It's perfect," she muttered, "but I don't know if I can afford it."

His eyes softened, and he asked, "How much do you have?"

"Fifty gil," she answered sadly.

The shopkeeper looked down at her, chewing on his lip thoughtfully. "I'll tell ya what," he started, "It's Christmas, and I'm feeling generous, so I think I'll give the esteemed guest of President Loire a discount. How does twenty five percent sound? That'll bring the price down to about forty-five gil."

Selphie was speechless, and after babbling incoherently for a moment, she managed to squeak out a thank you. She paid the money, and Don Juan was even wrapped the gift for her. She re-emphasized her gratitude many more times as she left the store. Now there was only one person left to get something for: Sir Laguna. With only five gil left, she'd have to be extremely clever to find something worthwhile to give the president of Esthar, but after musing for a moment, she knew she'd found the perfect idea.

The next store she set foot in was a music store. She beelined straight for the customer service desk and asked breathlessly, "Do you have any of Julia's old albums?"

"Julia?" the cashier asked confusedly. He looked side to side as if anyone around him might have the answer. "What kind of music does she play?"

"She's a pianist," Selphie said at the same time as another male voice from behind her. She turned around and saw the manager of the store. He was looking at her, apparently intrigued.

"I haven't had anyone come in here asking for a Julia record in almost fifteen years," he pondered aloud. "You look too young to even know who she is."

"It's, uh, for an older friend," she explained quickly.

"I see. Well, sadly, we don't carry anything that old in this store," he said, rubbing his chin and still looking at Selphie with interest. "But if you really want to find it, I know a good place to look."

"Oh! Do you? Tell me, please!"

The manager beamed and walked behind the customer service counter, where he proceeded to draw out a map. "Are you familiar with Esthar?"

"Not entirely," she admitted.

"Ok, I'll give you directions from the mall," he said, drawing some boxes and labeling them. "It's a thrift store, they tend to have a lot of old albums there. It's not terribly far from here." Moments later, he finished his map and handed it to her, giving her some verbal directions as well.

"If you pass the gas station with a statue of the T-Rexaur out front, then you've gone too far," he called after her.

"Thank you very much!" she said, clutching the map to her chest and bowing slightly as she walked out of the store. The usual train of paparazzi followed her out of the mall, but after she'd walked about a quarter of a mile toward the thrift store they started to decrease in numbers and eventually it was only a few photographers trailing behind her.

It was about an hour walk, but Selphie finally made it to the store the manager told her about. The smell of dust and mildew hung in the air all around her as she entered and walked past all of the stacks of old books, clothes and trinkets. "Can I help you?" a faint woman's voice said from the back of the shop.

"Uh, yes, um, I'm looking for … an old record," Selphie stuttered as she looked around for the source of the voice. Finally she saw a petite elderly woman organizing old lamps on a shelf.

"What sort of record?" she asked, looking away from her work to gaze at the SeeD.

"Well, her name is Julia. I'm not sure of her last name, it might be Caraway. She was a pianist."

The woman smiled broadly. "Ooh, Julia," she said quietly, and her gaze drifted away. Her reminiscing seemed to have taken her mind somewhere else entirely, so finally Selphie cleared her throat politely to bring the woman back to the real world. "Ah yes, the records are over here," she said as she emerged from her reverie. Slowly, she turned and walked with an arthritic limp to a bookshelf full of old vinyl records and dusty cassettes and CDs.

The woman ran her finger expertly across the spines of the vinyl albums and finally began thumbing through them when she pulled out a very old faded record case. Selphie could recognize Julia's face anywhere. Not only did she look extraordinarily like her daughter, Rinoa, but Selphie remembered seeing Julia in person, or what felt like was in person, in the 'dream world.'

"Is that all for you, dear?" the old woman asked, handing Selphie the record.

"I think so, but, well, how much does it cost?"

"I think ten gil should do it," she said sweetly, limping to the old cash register behind a cluttered counter.

"Well," Selphie said uneasily, "I'm embarrassed to say this, ma'am, but I only have five gil left."

The old woman looked at Selphie, and her sweet grandma look seemed to vanish. "This is a very old and very rare album," she said matter-of-factly. "I can't sell it for any less."

Selphie dug around in her pockets desperately, trying to find something, anything, that she could perhaps sell to this woman to make up the difference in cost. Both pockets were empty, and her purse had very little in it. As a last minute resort, she reached up and pulled the earrings from her ears. "How much can I get for these?" she asked.

The old woman appeared surprised at the idea of bartering, but smiled warmly again and said, "I think those would make it come out about even."

Selphie set them down on the counter where they rolled slightly before they sat motionless. They were some old stud earrings Irvine had gotten for her as a gift for her last birthday. There was nothing special about them, well, nothing anymore. She was happy to get rid of anything given to her by Irvine, and they were going to a good cause. She was sure that this Christmas present was the best idea she'd come up with yet.

She dug through her wallet and pulled out the five gil note and handed it to the shop owner as well. The old woman took the note and swept the earrings into her bony hands, bagged the record and handed it to Selphie. "Have a good day," she said smiling.

"Thank you! Thank you very much. I really appreciate this!" Selphie said, backing out of the door. She was now carrying two bags from the Shumi Artifacts store, one from Rinrin's, one from Don Juan's and, lastly, the small plastic sack from the thrift store. It had been a long day, and she had no money left, but she had finished her shopping! It was going to be a long walk back to the palace now that she no longer had the funds for a bus or a cab.

She was surprised to see that the sun was already setting and the world was tinted blue gray. She quickly checked her watch and saw it was past six. "Of course," she muttered, "The sun sets earlier in the winter." And with that thought she re-situated her shopping bags and walked down the street. As she passed by the buildings, she began to suspect that she wasn't in the best part of town. It hadn't been as evident in the daylight with all the shops open, but now that it was getting dark and the stores around her were closing, she noticed many of them had bars on the windows and iron gates pulled across the doors.

Selphie kept walking. Suddenly, she realized she could hear someone following her steps about twenty feet behind her. Rolling her eyes, she muttered something about the press and continued to walk, deciding to ignore the footsteps. Slowly, all light faded from the sky and left her in darkness. The only lights were the occasional working street lamp and the faraway glow of downtown Esthar.

After walking about twenty minutes, she set her bags down and pulled out the music manager's map map from her pocket. She was sure she was going the right way, but it was almost impossible to make out the details in the dark. With a sigh, she shoved the paper back into her pocket. As she bent down to pick up her shopping bags, she heard a noise in the distance. It sounded like someone's toe coming into contact with a trashcan. Instinctively she looked behind and squinted into the darkness. She couldn't see anyone. If it had been the press following her, surely she would have heard the cameras clicking or seen light from the flashes. But it was completely dark down the street, and aside from the single, sudden noise, very quiet.

Now feeling very vulnerable, Selphie turned on her heel and walked a little faster down the street. Sure enough, she could hear the footsteps behind her also pick up the pace. Another two blocks and she was still being followed. Finally fed up, she turned around and yelled, "Stop following me!" into the darkness, throwing her arms down in emphasis.

As if being summoned, a man appeared out of the dark, running full speed at her. She didn't have time to do anything but drop all of the shopping bags on the ground. His arms came out in front of him and pinned her against the brick wall behind her, slamming the back of her head into it as he did so. Her eyes closed instinctively, and when she reopened them she looked into the eyes of her attacker, so dark brown they almost appeared black.

"You're gonna come quietly and be a good girl," the man said nastily. She heard a click and could feel cold metal against her neck, "My knife doesn't have to get dirty if you just keep it down."

She could hear Seth's voice in her dazed head. "Don't call for help, never call for help!" he would have said. "People don't listen to cries of help. Cry fire instead — People _will_come to see what's happening if they think something is on fire."

"Fire! FIRE! FIRE!" Selphie shouted, getting louder each time. The man appeared so shocked to hear Selphie scream that he dropped his knife in surprise. Before he could stoop to pick it back up, they heard a window open up overhead. A woman was peering outside to, trying to find the source of the commotion. She looked directly at Selphie and her attacker, then slammed her window shut and closed her blinds.

Enraged that there might now be a witness, the man grabbed Selphie by the neck and threw her head into the brick wall a second time. Tears sprang to her eyes and she could feel warm blood leaking down her neck. The man's grip on her neck began to tighten. She brought her hands up to his, trying to pry his fingers off of her, and then she could hear Seth's voice again.

"Come on, Selphie! I know you can get out of this one! Lift your arm over your head and drop your opposite shoulder!" The class where she'd learned to get out of the choke hold was floating back into her aching head. Without giving it a second thought, Selphie threw her left arm up into the air and dropped her right shoulder. Immediately, she felt the man's grip on her neck loosen. "Bring your elbow down onto his arms." With all of her might she smashed her left elbow down onto his forearm. His hold on her neck was broken. She could breathe again, but she knew she couldn't stop yet. Twice, she hit him square in the nose with her left elbow.

Next she grabbed onto the man's shoulder. "Remember to grab onto the meat, not the shirt. Shirts rip," she could hear Seth intoning. Selphie kneed her attacker in the stomach twice, both times using the shoulder she was gripping to pull him into her. "You need to get on his left side, the dead-side. Here you can easier predict his next move, and he'll have a hard time predicting yours," Seth's voice continued. Selphie continued kneeing him in the gut, all the while working her way over to his left side.

The man was obviously not used to his victims fighting back because he was not doing a very good job defending himself. Unfortunately, the earlier blows to her head that she had received were making her feel very lightheaded and dizzy, and she paused for a second to steady herself. It was just long enough for the man to land a punch to Selphie's face, knocking her off guard and giving him the chance to land a second blow to her stomach. Eyes screwed up in pain, Selphie brought her leg up and heeled him in the groin. This caused the man to drop to his knees, holding himself and swearing loudly.

Desperately, she started scrambling to pick up her belongings and run away when she heard the approaching wail of police sirens. The red and blue lights danced along the buildings in the darkness, and quickly realizing he wasn't going to get away with whatever he was attempting, Selphie's attacker fled. For a crazy split second, she wanted to run after him. But her thoughts were interrupted by a flashbulb going off. Within seconds of the man running off, a photographer had managed to crawl out of nowhere and take several photographs of the bloodied and bruised Selphie.

Her eyes welled up with fury and she threw her fists down. "You were there the whole time?" she yelled hysterically, "And you just let him attack me like that? Why didn't you help me?" She ran at the photographer, sobbing and continuing to scream. He just backed up, taking photos of her all the while. Selphie briefly considered using her self-defense techniques on the photographer as well, but then the police car and an ambulance pulled up next to her.

The cops quickly left their car and came to her aid. "What happened?" they asked frantically, one reaching out to touch her shoulder. The sudden pressure caused her to wince. "Who did this to you?"

"He went that way," she said, desperately trying to get her tears under control as she pointed down the dark street. One of the cops nodded and got into the squad car again, turned on the spotlight and continued to drive down the road.

"Ok, miss, I know you're upset," the remaining officer said, trying to sound as calm as possible, "But I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened. First though, lets get you some medical attention," he said, leading her to the ambulance. A paramedic opened the door for her and the cop followed her inside. As the paramedic busied himself with treating her wounds, the cop sat down on a small chair. "Ok, I need you to start at the beginning. Tell me everything," he said, as the ambulance sped away into the night.

Squall sat on the couch at the Presidential Palace. It was as far away as he could get from Laguna without leaving the room. Selphie had left while he was sleeping, and she'd been gone all day, leaving Squall to spend time with Laguna. Alone. This was not something that the SeeD Commander excelled at — the whole father-son bonding thing was something that he had very little experience with at all.

Laguna occassionally tried to start a conversation with his son, mostly in between commercials of the documentary he was watching on television. Squall was not a very willing participant in these conversations. Although he allowed Laguna to speak and attempted to look vaguely interested in what he had to say, he did not very often talk back.

Luckily, Rocks started getting unruly about five minutes before the show took another commercial break. The dog kept coming over to Squall and pressing his wet nose against Squall's hand. As Laguna opened his mouth to make another attempt at conversation, Squall stood up and said quietly, "I think the dog needs to be let out. I'll take him out." He reached for the leash sitting beside the back door, clipped it onto Rocks' collar and unenthusiastically followed the dog as he tore out the door.

Upon reaching the middle of the yard, Rocks suddenly stopped pulling and began looking wildly around, alternating between sniffing the air and the ground.

"Go potty," Squall said, hoping this behavior indicated that the dog was finding a spot to relieve himself. Rocks however had other things on his mind. He continued to pull on the leash trying to get Squall to follow him. Squall, however, stayed put, thinking to himself that Selphie needed to really work on Rocks' leash manners. "Don't pull," he instructed, his voice authoritative. "Go potty."

The dog continued to ignore Squall's commands and instead began sniffing frantically in circles, entangling Squall in the leash. No matter how many times Squall instructed Rocks to "go potty," all the dog succeeded in doing was making Squall feel emasculated. Finally, the Commander concluded that the dog didn't really have to relieve himself, so he began to focus his energy on trying to get the dog back inside the palace. It proved difficult because Rocks seemed intent on going any direction other than toward the palace. After expending much more time and energy than Squall had initially anticipated, he was eventually able to drag Rocks back inside.

After putting the leash back where he found it, Squall sat back down on the couch, again opposite of Laguna and continued pretending to be genuinely interested in not only Laguna's ramblings, but also the incredibly dull documentary he was watching. Rocks ran back up to him and started nudging him again.

Squall ignored this behavior for another hour or so, when he heard footsteps outside. Both he and Rocks looked down the entry way to see a very tired-looking Ellone and Nolan walk inside. Rocks looked disappointed, and walked away.

"Where's Selphie?" Squall asked, looking at Ellone.

"She's not home yet?" she asked, confused. When this response was met with Squall's immediate look of concern she quickly added, "We split up around noon. Nolan and I had an appointment with an officiant for our wedding. She wanted to continue shopping. I'm sure she'll be here soon, the mall closes early on Sundays."

Although this didn't completely rid Squall of his concern, he sat back in his seat and looked at the clock. It was nearing seven. Surely she'd be home soon, he told himself, looking despairingly back to the television. Ellone and Nolan joined Laguna and Squall in the living room. This took a tremendous amount of pressure off of Squall as quiet conversation slowly filled the room.

Just as Laguna's documentary appeared to be wrapping up, it was suddenly replaced by a frazzled-looking anchorman who appeared just as surprised as everyone in the living room that he was interrupting their program. He straightened up, looked at the camera, and said, "We apologise for interrupting your normal programming to bring you this breaking news. There was an attack on a young foreign girl approximately an hour ago near the intersection of 161st Street and Broadway. Officials say she is the romantic interest of President Loire's son, the SeeD Commander of Balamb Garden…" At this, the living room was suddenly silent, and everyone looked from the television to Squall. "…No word yet on if this was a crime intended to extort ransom money from the first family or just a random act of violence. The victim, 16-year-old Selphie Tilmitt, was released from the hospital just moments ago with minor injuries. She declined to release an official statement to the press. Police officials say she was able to identify her attacker in a lineup, and he has been arrested and is being held in prison. Bail is set for two thousand gil. Some photographs of Ms. Tilmitt after the assault have been released to the press, but as a warning, you may find the following images disturbing…"

Several images of a battered and crying Selphie flashed across the screen.

"What? How can they show those?" Ellone cried, holding a hand up to her mouth.

Outraged, Squall stood up, said quickly, "Come on, Rocks," and, without a goodbye, ran out of the door. He didn't even bother to leash the dog. If he wanted to find Selphie quickly, he would need Rocks' help. Sure enough, the dog took off full speed down the road, and Squall followed behind at a sprint. He hoped that she wasn't too far away.

One block went by, then two blocks. There was no sign of Selphie, and Rocks was still running as fast as he could down the road. Squall was running out of breath. He was having a hard time keeping up with the dog, and by the time he rounded the corner on the fourth block, he'd lost sight of him completely. "Damn!" Squall yelled, kicking his foot at a garbage can. Then, ignoring the pain in his chest, took off running again.

"Rocks!" he called, hoping to hear some kind of a response to give him an idea of what direction he should be going.

But instead of hearing Rocks' bark, he heard a very faint cry of "Squall?" in the distance. Heart pounding madly, Squall ran even faster in the direction the voice came from. It was yet another block before he saw the dark outlines of a small girl and her dog off in the distance in the neighborhood park. Relieved, he jogged to find Selphie sitting on a swing, stroking Rocks' head and pushing herself back and forth ever so slightly. Her head was wrapped in bandages.

"I was on my way," she said so quietly it was almost inaudible. "I was just stopping to take a rest because my legs hurt."

Squall looked at her bare legs and saw they were covered in bruises and scrapes. He opened his mouth to say something, but was momentarily speechless. "Oh Selphie..." he finally managed to say, his voice heavy with pity and relief. She didn't look up. Her face was completely obscured by shadow and she appeared transfixed by something on the ground. In the grass behind the swingset lay her shopping bags. He bent down so that he was kneeling in front of her, and immediately she pulled her hands up to her face to hide it from him.

"Selphie," he said quietly again, "Selphie, look at me. Please." When she didn't remove her hands, he reached up and gently pulled them away himself. Her left eye was completely covered by a bandage, and her swollen lip began to tremble as tears began to fall from the eye that was not covered up. She still avoided eye contact with him.

Shaking his head slowly, he leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. It was more of a comforting gesture than an actual embrace. He was afraid to hold her too tightly since he wasn't sure where she was injured. "I'm just glad you're alright," he said softly.

The two sat there, silent except for Selphie's quiet sobs. Squall made to stroke the back of her head but stopped himself when he remembered the bandages. Instead, he began rubbing her back until her breathing calmed and her tears slowed.

"It was all for nothing," she sniffled.

"What?" he asked, pulling away to look at her.

"The reason I was down there," she started, but her breathing became ragged as fresh tears started up again, "was to get Laguna's gift." Sniffling, she turned around and picked up the smallest of all the shopping bags and handed it to Squall. He looked inside to see shattered pieces of an old vinyl record peeking out of an old faded slip cover.

With a sigh and a weak smile, he set the bag down. "You know, Selph, you didn't need to get anyone anything."

"Everyone always says that," she said exasperatedly, wiping her nose on the back of her hand, "but they don't really mean it."

"Well," Squall said slowly, proceeding with caution, "Laguna is thrilled just to have you as company. He's said it at least a dozen times today."

Selphie looked into his eyes for the first time during this encounter and, although it was obviously somewhat forced, smiled back at him. He stooped down to pick up her shopping bags, but she grabbed the one from Don Juan's before he got a chance to. The sudden movement surprised Squall, but as it was a bag from Don Juan's, he realized whatever was inside was most likely for him and didn't question her.

"Let's get you home," he said, putting an arm behind her and leading her out of the park.


End file.
